BT Golf Kolkata edition was a glittering affair

Called the city of Joy, Kolkata—known for its unbound exuberance, culture, traditions, history, literature, food and more—played the perfect host on March 25, 2023, for the concluding edition of the Royal Ranthambore presents Business Today Golf tournament at the historic and adventurously difficult Tollygunge Club—that started life as a plantation and which has gone through several iterations before its current avatar of a golf course set in the heart of bustling South Kolkata. As one of the oldest courses in this part of the world, the greens here have a character of their own, much like the city it resides in. For instance, this is one golf course where walking is par for the course as golf carts are not allowed because they may damage the pristine greens.

The tournament, held at the 18 hole, 70 par, 100-acre championship all-season golf course, saw participation from more than 100 corporate captains of Kolkata. The chief guest for the occasion was West Bengal Industry, Commerce and Enterprises Minister Shashi Panja, who felicitated the winners.

The exclusive, invite-only tournament, of which this was the fifth and last leg for the 2022-23 season, is co-powered by Qatar Airways and Indian Oil XP 100 with Morris Garages as mobility partner and Rajasthan Tourism as tourism partner.

As for the winners, Sheena Rawla, Interior Architect & Designer at The Colonial Design House, who tallied 30 points, won in the ladies category. Pavan Ghai, Director of Mojo Footwear and Partha S. Barman, Managing Director at Highstreet Securities, amassed 36 and 37 points, respectively, to be declared winners in the 0 to 14 handicap category and 15 to 24 handicap category, respectively.

Presenting the awards to the winners, Minister Panja, a physician by training, said, “I can say with complete conviction that the Tollygunge Club, or the Tolly as we all know it, is one of the best and most exquisite golf courses in all of India. And West Bengal’s turf is as smooth as the grass at the Tolly, so I would say to the participants, do come back to this state of opportunity.”

Amongst the winners of the individual prizes were Harmander Bindra, Director of processWare ERP, for the Straightest Drive; Satbinder Singh, Partner at Sen & Singh Engineers, for the Closest to Pin; and Jayanta Gohain, Head-Tea Excellence Centre of Hindustan Unilever, for the Longest Drive.

Wrapping up the day’s and this season’s game play, Panja said, “P.G. Wodehouse said, ‘play golf with a man’—with all emphasis on gender neutrality here—‘to know his character’. We in West Bengal invite you all to do the same. And I must say BT Golf put up a most impressive show here today.”

And like they say, it’s a birdie.