BT Golf Kolkata: Corporate bigwigs turn up in huge numbers at the iconic Tolly Club to showcase their golfing chops

Away from the hustle and bustle of the City of Joy on a balmy Saturday morning, more than a hundred golfers assembled at the historic Tollygunge Club in the posh southern part of Kolkata to compete on the greens. The city had been drenched in showers a day before, but the skies were clear when the first golfers ambled in at 6:45 in the morning to register for the exclusive and invite-only Royal Ranthambore Business Today Golf 2023-24’s Kolkata leg of the tournament. By the time they teed off at 8 am, it was bright and sunny, and all the participants were pumped up and ready for action.

Over the next few hours, they showcased their golfing chops in the sun, displaying great competitive spirit and camaraderie. Even though most in the field were familiar with the twists and turns of the Tolly Club’s 18-hole, 70-par, 100-acre championship all-season course, which was originally started as a plantation, they still had to contend with its quick greens and strategically placed pins, along with the multiple hazards scattered across the fairways and, of course, the intense heat and humidity.

The draw was heavily dominated by corporate leaders such as Amit Bhowmik, Head of Procurement-RSE & Asean & South Asia of Linde India; Hitesh Gurtu, Head of Marketing-South Asia at Linde India; Murali Ganesan, Executive VP & Head of Audit of ITC Ltd; Gaurav Soneja, GM of ITC Royal Bengal; Ranabir Chatterjee, VP-Deliver & SHEQ-South Asia of Praxair India; Joydeep Datta Gupta, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tomahatsu India; Sunil Jha, MD of Shristi Infrastructure Development Corp.; and Arnab Basu, Leader Advisory and Regional Managing Partner, PwC India. There were others as well, such as B. Sumant, Director of ITC Ltd; Harsh Pal Singh, Vice President-Marketing, Residential Sales, Shristi Infrastructure Development Corp.; Vijay Jacob Parakkal, Senior Vice President & Managing Partner, Wunderman Thompson; and Sanjeev Mehra, Senior Vice President, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group.

Finally, after four hours of play, Oona Khanna, Nutritionist & Health Coach; A.K. Sareen, former MD of Ceratizit India; and Dinesh Agarwal, Partner, EY, emerged as the winners in the ladies, 0-14 Men’s handicap and 15-24 Men’s handicap categories, respectively. West Bengal Industry, Commerce and Enterprises Minister Shashi Panja, who graced the event as the chief guest, felicitated the winners and said, the city is in the grip of a sports wave. “It’s a season full of sport for us. We have a cricket World Cup match here tomorrow so the flavour of the season is sports, sports and sports, and golf is not very far behind,” she said.