Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2008, a pioneering and first-of-its-kind effort to promote professional golfing tour in Nepal, has kicked off with the Central Open. Central Open is the first in a series of professional golf events lined up for the Tour, apart from the most-coveted Surya Nepal Masters.

The tour-opening event will feature 25 Nepali professional golfers competing four days straight for total prize money of NPR 300,000 with top golfers like Deepak Thapa Magar, winner of the Surya Nepal Masters 2007, Deepak Acharya, Pashupati Sharma, Ramesh Nagarkoti, Toran B. Shahi, Shiv Ram Shrestha and Radheshyam Thapa participating, among others.

The Central Open is being held in Le Meredien Gokarna Forest Golf Resort &
Spa, also the host for Surya Nepal Masters since 1999.

Initiated from this year onwards, the Tour has already been signed up by six professional golf tournaments. Surya Nepal Golf Tour will eventually be developed into an umbrella for all the professional golfing events played within Nepal. nepalnews.com dr May 13 08