The Thomas Cook Indian Golf League launches its 3rd edition

Thomas Cook (India) Limited, India's largest integrated Travel and Travel related Financial Services Company, announced the launch of the 3rd edition of The Thomas Cook Indian Golf League at a press meet in New Delhi today. The success of the first two editions of this unique initiative, promoted by Digraj Golf and supported by Thomas Cook (India) Limited, has created an increased interest, and this edition will showcase an added number of tournaments and cities across NCR, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Srinagar.

The 3rd edition of the Thomas Cook Indian Golf League has been scheduled for 16 weeks (Nov end, 2011 to March 2012), with 20 tournaments across 5 premier cities with the first tournament scheduled to be played at the beautiful Jaypee Greens Golf Resort on the 24th of November. In this unique series, everyone gets a chance to compete and five leading scores from each tournament qualify for the Grand Finale, the 20th and concluding event.

The serious golfers are scored in the Gross Stableford format while the regular golfers in the Net Stableford format and they play off 75% of their original handicaps. As a special incentive for ladies, the best lady golfer each day will be determined on the same basis. New golfers, who do not have a handicap, are offered an incentive via a handicap system called the "Double Peoria", which gives them a Handicap for that day based on a certain formula. In this manner, the combination of unique scoring welcomes participation across varied levels of skills on to a single platform.

The first two editions of the league drew a tremendous response with participation from over 20 cities. The "Open Field' also saw some good competition and low scoring. Additionally, there are attractive skills prizes also to be won each day. And like the previous two editions, at the Grand Finale exclusive luxury holidays will be presented as prizes, courtesy "Indulgence" Thomas Cook (India) Ltd's luxury brand.

Participation in The Thomas Cook Indian Golf League is via a mix of invites and "pay-and-play". While several players are invited by supporting sponsors and hence play free of cost, the majority "pay and play" are charged a nominal fee of approx Rs 1500. This amount covers the green fee, caddy fee, gifts and basic refreshments.

This affordable opportunity to play and compete at various golf courses is thanks to the active participation and support of the host clubs.

With the addition of The Noida Golf Course, the players are offered an opportunity to play at 5 varied yet beautiful partner courses across NCR, including The Golden Greens Golf and Country Club, Jaypee Greens Golf Resort, Classic Golf Resort and The Tarudhan Valley Golf Resort. The league will also foray into the other cities and the courses are being tied up.

The support of various sponsors has made the competitive platform possible. Titleist, Oakley and British Airways provide product support as prizes while Zee Business is the Business Television partner and 4Moles.com is the official online media partner.

Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, "We are delighted to support The Thomas Cook Indian Golf League in this its third season. Golf, and this event in particular, offers us a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse range of our customer groups from Corporates, HNIs, golf enthusiasts and the youth segment. Our partnerships too reiterate our strong focus on innovation. Sport Tourism is a key opportunity for us at Thomas Cook, and one that we will continue to leverage."

"Thomas Cook Indian Golf League would continue to promote the sport and showcase new talent. It will also function as a catalyst for developing domestic golf tourism through the opportunity being created for everyone to play on beautiful Indian courses" added Mr. Digraj Singh of Digraj Golf.

Simi Mehra, India's top lady golfer lauded the efforts to promote golf. "This could have a domino effect and create more awareness and playing opportunities for golf." She was especially delighted with the efforts to promote juniors and talented players from underprivileged backgrounds "as it would help them evolve into better players."

The Thomas Cook Indian Golf League also supports two NGO's by giving them exposure and creating awareness about their efforts. The first one is Maitri which is doing an exceptional job in supporting the widows of Mathura. They also offer support to AIDS patients. And the other one is the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society which aims to illuminate the lives of rural girls through education and solar energy.