A quarter century on the quiet greens: The SERVO Masters legacy in Assam's Digboi

Digboi: In the quiet oil town of Digboi in Assam, where dawn arrives draped in mist over undulating tea estates and the ancient sal forests murmur stories older than memory, a sporting tradition has blossomed into a national heirloom.

As the IndianOil SERVO Masters Golf steps proudly into its 25th edition, India’s longest-running professional golf tournament celebrates more than just longevity.

It honours a century-deep legacy in which industry, wilderness, community, and the quiet romance of golf converge in perfect harmony.

What began in 1999 as a bold effort to promote IndianOil’s flagship SERVO brand while fostering budding golfing talent has, over the decades, matured into a cultural ritual.

Today, the SERVO Masters stands as one of the most enduring events on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), drawing over a hundred professionals each year.

Its fairways carry the footfalls of rising stars and seasoned champions alike, while the people of Digboi embrace the tournament with pride, treating it as an annual celebration of their identity.

At the heart of this legacy lies SERVO, India’s No. 1 lubricant brand and a Consumer Superbrand revered by engineers, industries, and institutions.

For more than five decades, SERVO has propelled the engines of modern India with over a thousand advanced formulations created through world-class research and innovation.

Endurance, precision, and scientific mastery, the qualities that define SERVO, echo through every stroke played at the SERVO Masters.

The tournament, much like the brand, stands as a testament to consistency, excellence, and the pursuit of peak performance.

But to understand the story of Digboi, one must step beyond the greens. The Digboi Refinery, Asia’s oldest continuously operating refinery, has been the beating industrial heart of this frontier since the early 20th century.

Over time, it has reinvented itself through a series of technological upgrades, commissioning units such as the Crude Distillation Unit, Delayed Coking Unit, Catalytic Reforming Unit, Solvent De-Waxing Unit, Wax Hydro-finishing Unit, and Hydrotreater Unit.

The completion of the MS Quality Upgradation Project in 2010 marked its leap toward greener, cleaner fuels.

Today, while processing high-wax crude, the refinery produces world-class paraffin wax and remains IndianOil’s first refinery to achieve BS-VI compliance.

By March 2026, its capacity will rise to 1.0 MMTPA—assuring its continued relevance in India’s energy journey.

It was against this backdrop of pioneering industry that early explorers, engineers, and tea planters shaped a sanctuary of leisure, the Digboi Golf Links.

Folded naturally into the terrain of tea gardens and forested groves, the course became a place where industrial fatigue dissolved into nature’s serenity.

Today, it remains one of India’s most atmospheric golfing landscapes: a 6,348-yard stretch framed by the Dehing Forest Reserve, its fairways flanked by unpredictable nullahs, tight tree corridors, and whispering roughs.

Encounters with elephants, leopards, deer, hornbills, and hundreds of bird species lend the course an almost cinematic grandeur, golf played in the theatre of the wild.

History, too, is etched into these greens. During World War II, the fifth fairway doubled as an airstrip, and wartime relics such as anti-aircraft pillboxes and the air raid shelter on Hole No. 3, aptly called the “Firing Line – Pillbox”, still stand as silent witnesses.

From the earliest recorded game in 1898 to the nine-hole layout of 1916 and Assam’s first full 18-hole course in 1948, the Digboi Golf Links has evolved in tandem with the region’s own journey.

Modern improvements, lighting towers, new greens, irrigation ponds, a redesigned fairway, a driving range, a new clubhouse, and the Digboi Golf Academy ensure that tradition and modernity coexist seamlessly.

Nothing captures IndianOil’s unwavering commitment to this tournament more vividly than the dramatic rise in its prize purse.

From a humble Rs 7.5 lakh in 1999 to a commanding Rs 1 crore in 2025, the progression reflects not just financial growth but a belief in the transformative potential of Indian golf.

Over the years, the SERVO Masters has become an anchor for the people of Digboi. For local youth, the tournament is a spark of inspiration, and for small businesses, it is a week of prosperity.

For the region, it is a moment of collective pride, heightened during the iconic Pro-Am, where amateurs from across Upper Assam walk the greens alongside the country’s best.

As the tournament celebrates its Silver Jubilee, the IndianOil SERVO Masters becomes more than a sporting event.

It transforms into a tribute to heritage, to environment, to community, and to the timeless spirit of aspiration.

It is a festival where the echoes of early oilmen meet the dreams of today’s youth; where nature and industry shake hands; where the past and future stroll the fairways together.

In Digboi, amid fairways shaped by pioneers and forests alive with ancient song, the Silver Saga shines brighter than ever, promising that the chapters yet to come will be even more luminous.