Venkat Ramana Reddy Challa and Satish Cheeti qualify for Mercedes Trophy 2019 National Final

City golfers Venkat Ramana Reddy Challa handicap CAT A and Satish Cheeti handicap CAT B claimed the two national final spots to qualify for the Mercedes Trophy National Finals on Day 2 of Hyderabad Leg after carding a Nett. Score of 70.4 and 72 respectively.  

Over 180 golfers participated on the two days of the Hyderabad qualifications.  A host of 24 qualifiers have been identified so far from the six legs of the tournament including Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Mercedes Trophy will now proceed to its next qualification destination of Delhi scheduled to tee off on 19^th February at the ITC Classic Golf Resort.

 Venkat Ramana Reddy Challa and Satish Cheeti qualify for Mercedes Trophy 2019 National Final

Prominent winners included DS Sumanth who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge with a mammoth drive of 300 yards. Mithun Khaitan won the Standard Chartered Closest to Pin contest on hole no. 16 by landing the ball at 12ft and 3 inches from the pin. In the Mercedes – Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots, Sanath Malreddy landed the ball at 20 ft. from the pin to win the contest on hole no. 12. Raju Avsn who landed the ball 4 inches from the line won the Mercedes-Benz Straightest Drive contest.

The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals. 

The 19^th edition of the Mercedes Trophy will travel to six more cities after Hyderabad including Delhi – NCR (Gurugram & Greater Noida), Chandigarh, Jaipur and Lucknow before returning to Pune for the National Final.

This year for the first time, Mercedes-Benz’s global charity partner– Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is also associated with the tournament to raise funds for its programmes in India. While participants can donate online or on-ground at the tournament venue, Mercedes-Benz India will donate an equal amount to match the funds raised from participants. 

Globally, MercedesTrophy witnesses participation of approximately 60,000 golfers from across 60 countries battling it out for the top prize, making it one of the world’s largest and most coveted sporting events.

Three winners of the National Finals will then compete against those from tournaments played in 60 countries all over the world in the 30th edition of the Mercedes Trophy World Final to be held in Stuttgart, Germany. Mercedes-Benz is also providing an opportunity for beginners to learn golf through their Golf Clinic program.