Michael Campbell will join fellow Major Champions Darren Clarke, Angel Cabrera and Rich Beem in an exciting new golf tournament based in India next month on the incredibly successful Twenty20 cricket league.
Masterminded by Indian golfer Shiv Kapur, the league will also feature England’s David Howell and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant.
“When I saw the Indian Premier League (Twenty20 tournament), I thought it made cricket look cool. I wanted to do the same in golf, without taking away the seriousness of course,” said Kapur.
India’s affable Shiv Kapur helping steer a Twenty20 version of golf next month in Mumbai. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
“It would be a great opportunity for the local players to team up with some of the big names. It would be an experience they would cherish for the rest of their life,” the 30-year-old golfer said.Scheduled on Feb 8-10 at a course near Mumbai, the inaugural league will feature two day-night rounds of strokeplay, followed by the third and final round of best-ball format.
Each round will be played over 14 holes, instead of the regular 18, by the teams comprising four golfers, both local and international.
“We decided three-hour round would be ideal from TV viewership point of view,” explained Kapur.
Sri Lanka Test Cricket captain Mahela Jayawadene is promoter of the $400,000 league’s Colombo-based franchise.
“We are starting with one team from Sri Lanka and the idea is to add more international franchises going forward,” Kapur said.
The organisers were yet to finalise the remaining three franchises and said a golfers’ auction would take place in the next couple of weeks, he added.
