The Kolkata Challenge is the second of back-to-back Challenge Tour events in India co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India. After Englishman John Parry triumphed in week one, here’s everything you need to know ahead of week two…
A historic venue
Royal Calcutta Golf Club makes its debut on the Challenge Tour this year and comes with a history to rival most venues. The West Bengal club is the oldest club outside of Great Britain having been founded back in 1829, and was bestowed its Royal title 81 years after its inception after King George V & Queen Mary visited in 1911. Memorabilia dating back to when it was founded is still preserved in the clubhouse.
Initially situated where the city’s international airport now stands, Royal Calcutta moved several times before finding its current home in the ‘city of joy’s’ southern suburbs in Tollygunqe at the end of the 19th Century.
Royal Calcutta experience
Royal Calcutta Golf Club is a regular venue on the PGTI schedule, with Challenge Tour winner Om Prakash Chouhan triumphing here last year in the SSP Chawrasia Invitational 2023 presented by TAKE Sports. The player that event was named after, SSP Chawrasia, is also in the field this week. The four-time DP World Tour winner is one of India’s most decorated golfers, and will be teeing it up on a course that he’s all too familiar with having grown up playing in Kolkata.
Parkland test
Steeped in history off the course, on the course the challenge comes in the shape of strategically placed water tanks, natural water hazards and tree-lined fairways. Providing a very different challenge and climate to the one that greeted the players in Delhi last week, the par 72 parkland layout plays around 7230 yards in length. When the PGTI teed it up here last year, the winning score for the week was six under par, demonstrating the challenging nature of the setup.
