- Title: Handful of golfers tee off in Mt Everest tournament in bad weather
- Date: 21st October 2019
- Summary: IN AIR, MOUNT EVEREST REGION, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF MOUNTAINS AT EVEREST REGION LUKLA, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER CARRYING GOLFERS TO SYANGBOCHE SYANGBOCHE, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) GOLFER REHEARSING HIS SWING TAKING A PRACTICE GOLFERS PLAYING GOLF GOLF COURSE WHERE THE GAME IS BEING PLAYED WITH MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND GOLFER TEEING OFF GOLF BALL ON A TEE AND CLUB HITTING THE BALL GOLFERS PITCHING ON ARTIFICIAL GREEN AROUND THE HOLE GOLFER PUTTING THE BALL LUKLA, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF LUKLA, GATEWAY TO EVEREST SHOPS SELLING MOUNTAINEERING GEAR AT LUKLA THE SHOP OWNER CHECKING HIS MOBILE PHONE PORTERS CARRYING GOODS DOWN THE LUKLA STREET KATHMANDU, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF KATHMANDU CITY (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEPALI GOLF PLAYER, RAJIV BIKRAM SHAH, SAYING: "I think it's not about the winning and I think it's a new thing. It's the first time in Nepal's history and maybe in the world's history playing golf in an altitude so high and in the Everest region. So, and the people that came to play golf and participated in it were also excellent." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEPALI GOLF PLAYER BHAGWAN KOIRALA, SAYING: "Well this was an exciting event you know although it was not a great, complete golf course but the very fact that they could organise even one-hole golf at that altitude of almost 4,000 metres was fun." LUKLA, NEPAL (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) TREKKERS WALKING ALONG A STREET IN LUKLA
- Embargoed: 4th November 2019 06:41
- Keywords: Golf Everest range Nepal Kathmandu Lukla
- Location: KATHMANDU / IN AIR, MOUNT EVEREST REGION / LUKLA / SYANGBOCHE, NEPAL
- City: KATHMANDU / IN AIR, MOUNT EVEREST REGION / LUKLA / SYANGBOCHE, NEPAL
- Country: Nepal
- Topics: Golf,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001B21G5DR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A high-altitude golf tournament in the shadow of Nepal's Mount Everest had to be called off over the weekend as most of the players could not fly in due to heavy cloud cover, its organiser said on Monday (October 21), though a few golfers managed a quick game.
A group of 40 golfers were meant to play at the base of Mount Kongde in Nepal's Solukhumbu region, at a height of 4,250 metre (13,943 feet), which organiser Baahrakhari Media group said made it the world's highest altitude golf tournament.
But bad weather with thick black clouds made it impossible for most helicopters to fly in for the tournament, organised in a push to promote tourism in Nepal.
Only four golfers made it in a small chopper to the one-hole golf course that had been prepared just below the snow-line. Of them, one managed to par the hole, while another bogeyed it.
Eight others teed off at another makeshift course in Syangboche, located at an altitude of 3,880 metres (12,730 feet), overlooking Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks.
"Although it was not a great, complete golf course but the very fact that they could organise even one-hole golf at that altitude of almost 4,000 metres was fun," said Bhagwan Koirala, a player.
Previously, the highest golf had been played at was at an altitude of 3,960 metres (12,992 feet) in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, said Prateek Pradhan of the organising group.
The remainder of the tournament will be played in Kathmandu at the weekend.
(Production: Sagar Adhikari) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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