Revision as of 20:28, 8 January 2021

2015

Lahiri 5th/ PGA Championship Kohler

The Times of India, August 19, 2015

Anirban Lahiri made a resounding statement for Indian golf when he recorded In dia's best-ever finish in a Major.

The 28-year-old golfer from Bengaluru finished tied fifth in the PGA Championship, the year's final Major, with rounds of 70, 67, 70 and 68 at Kohler, Wisconsin (US) which helped him eclipse Chandigarh pro Jeev Milkha Singh's tied ninth re sult at the same event in 2008. He was seven strokes behind eventu al winner Jason Day of Australia.

Golfers who Lahiri finished ahead of included the likes of Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and several Major winners. Tiger Woods failed to even make the cut at the event.

Lahiri pocketed $367,000 (Rs 2.4 crore) -his second highest pay cheque after his Malaysian Open win ($500,000) earlier this year -and jumped from 53rd to 38th spot in the world rankings.

2016

Aditi 1st Indian to win LET title

2 big wins in 1 day for Indian golf Nov 14 2016 : The Times of India

Aditi Bags European Tour Title, Chawrasia Triumphs At Manila

A glass ceiling and a psychological barrier were both shattered by In dian golfers on Sunday Nov 13, 2016.

18-year-old Aditi Ashok beat off the challenge of the more experienced American Brittany Lincicome and Spain's Belen Mozo to win the Hero Women's Indian Open in Gurugram. In doing so, the Bengaluru girl became the first Indian woman to win a Ladies European Tour title.

Her win and a prize purse of $60,000 propelled her to the top spot in the Rookie of the Year rankings.

Chawrasia/ World Manila Masters

2 big wins in 1 day for Indian golf Nov 14 2016 : The Times of India

In Manila, the seasoned Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia, fighting off the challenge of a premium Asian Tour field at the $1 million Resorts World Manila Masters all week, pushed himself to a previously unknown level of attacking golf in the final round. He stormed to his first overseas win since he made the cut to play abroad in 2006.

The normally reticent Kolkatan, a regular winner at big-ticket events at home, pulled out all the stops in a three-way play-off between Malaysia's Nicholas Fung and US rookie Sam Chien for the $180,000 prize. “Haaro toh, attacking khel key haaro (If you are to lose, lose playing attacking golf). Finally , I was able to shift to that gear,“ he told TOI later.

2017

PGA tour, achievements by India, 2006-... as on 6 June 2017; Jun 06 2017: The Times of India

See graphic.:

PGA tour, achievements by India, 2006-... as on 6 June

November 2017: Aditi first Indian to make it to LPGA Tour Championships

Aditi makes history, November 15, 2017: The Times of India

First Indian To Make It To LPGA Tour C’ships

Aditi Ashok has qualified for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA, becoming the first from the country to play in the prestigious meet. The 19-year-old prodigy is one of the eight rookies to make it to the Tour Championships in what is one of the strongest fields in women’s golf.

Meanwhile, Aditi has succeeded in keeping her LPGA card for 2018 after a sterling rookie season. With a string of creditable performances, including a Top-10 and starts at all five Majors, it has been a landmark year for the Bengaluru golfer, who won two LET events in 2016 and one in 2017.

2018

HONMA Hong Kong Open

SHARMA SHOOTS 67, FINISHES SIXTH, November 26, 2018: The Times of India

India’s Shubhankar Sharma on Sunday followed up his European Tour Rookie of the Year award season with a top-10 finish at the HONMA Hong Kong Open, strengthening his chances of winning the Asian Tour Order of Merit. The 22-year-old Sharma shot a three-under par 67 on the final day to improve to tied sixth place at nine-under par 271. England’s Aaron Rai (69), who is of Indian origin, won his first tournament on the European Tour after battling compatriot Matthew Fitzpatrick down the final stretch. The 23-year-old finished on 17-under par 263.

Scores (Indians only): 271: Shubhankar Sharma (69, 68, 67, 67, T-6); 277: Arjun Atwal (66, 72, 68, 71, T-36); 278: Shiv Kapur (73, 67, 67, 71, T-45); 279: Ajeetesh Sandhu (70, 67, 70, 72, T-57); 281: Viraj Mandappa (73, 68, 71, 69), Khalin Joshi (68, 71, 73, 69, T-67).

Melbourne World Cup

India finishes 10th

India finish 10th at World Cup, November 26, 2018: The Times of India

India recorded their second top-10 finish in the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf after Anirban Lahiri (in pic) and Gaganjeet Bhullar produced a second successive two-under 70 in the final round. Lahiri and Bhullar finished on 12-under 276 to share the 10th spot after Sunday’s foursomes round, while Belgium won the tournament for the first time with a total of 23-under 265.

Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry added a four-under par 68 in the final round to win by three shots. Hosts Australia produced a storming finish of seven-under par 65 to climb to tied second place alongside Mexico (66) at 20-under par.

Tied third after the first two rounds, the Indian duo was disappointed with their weekend, unable to match or better the previous best effort by an Indian pair in the tournament -- Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa were tied ninth in 2005 in Portugal.

After a round that saw them make five birdies in eight holes from the seventh onwards, Bhullar said: “Pretty disappointed with our finish. Things started getting better on the back nine. I had a few good shots and Anirban holed a lot of good putts. But it was just towards the end there.”

Lahiri, who will now play his year’s last tournament in Indonesia in the Asian Tour season-ender, added: “If I was to sum it up, it’s been a bad weekend. I think we played really well on Thursday, Friday, a lot of positives there. Yesterday really was the day that both of us played quite poorly, and yesterday was the day that we kind of got ourselves out of contention.”

“We both really enjoyed ourselves. We gelled together really well. We were talking about it. It’s been maybe four or five years since the EurAsia Cup that we teamed last time, so it was a good reunion.”

2019

Diksha wins S African Women’s Open

Special Diksha clinches title, March 17, 2019: The Times of India

Delhi Teen Sets Mark On European Ladies Tour

Inspired by a magical chip-in on the 16th hole, Indian rookie teen Diksha Dagar claimed victory in the South African Women’s Open, celebrating a maiden Ladies European Tour win in just her fourth professional start at Westlake Golf Club.

Diksha turned in a magnificent bogey-free final round of three-under to score a one-shot win at the 2m Rand (approx. US $140,000) event. She rallied from two shots behind over the much experienced local Lee Anne Pace to become only the second Indian woman to win a tournament on the Ladies European Tour. “I just went out today trying to play my normal game,” said Diksha.

FCG Callaway Junior world: Bhati wins

Arjun Bhati wins Junior World Golf Championship

New Delhi: India’s Arjun Bhati defeated Taiwan’s Jeremy Chen to win the FCG Callaway Junior world Golf Championship 2019 in Palm Desert, California. Out of 637 golfers from 40 counties that participated in the tournament, Arjun secured the first position with a total of 199 strokes in the three-day final. He was followed by Chen and New Zealand’s Joshua Bai at second and third positions with 202 and 207 strokes respectively. With his closing 199, he finished at 17-under-par for three rounds. Arjun made the best score among 13-18 age category.

Arjuna awards

2018: Aditi Ashok ignored

Sabi Hussain, Golf bodies spar over Aditi’s Arjuna snub, September 26, 2018: The Times of India

It was supposed to mark the announcement of the 12th edition of the Hero Women’s Indian Open golf tournament, but the occasion turned out to be a battleground for the Indian Golf Union (IGU) and the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI) to engage in a war of words over the denial of Arjuna award to the country’s leading woman professional golfer, Aditi Ashok.

Aditi’s name wasn’t recommended for the award by the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the body recognised by the sports ministry as the national sports federation (NSF) to run the men’s and women’s golf in India. Ace golfer Shubhankar Sharma was conferred with this year’s Arjuna award.

While IGU defended itself by arguing that it never received the form, which was forwarded to Aditi and was required to be signed by the Bangalore-based golfer as part of her Arjuna application, the WGAI accused the IGU of “gender bias” and “shoddy treatment” in denying Aditi yet another chance to land the Arjuna. Last year, too, Aditi had applied for the award but lost out to SSP Chawrasia. No woman golfer has won the Arjuna since Nonita Lall in 1987.

“This year, it came as a shock to us. IGU has been failing in its duty every year to push the case of deserving women golfers,” said WGAI secretary general Champika Sayal on Tuesday.

“IGU is contending that Aditi didn’t send her signed application within the stipulated deadline, so her application wasn’t forwarded. Was it that difficult to obtain her signature? IGU could have told us and we would have contacted Aditi and got her signature on the form,” added Sayal.

IGU’s director general, Bibhuti Bhushan, though maintained that the body tried its best to contact Aditi but the golfer remained incommunicado as she was constantly travelling and playing abroad. “We sent her the form in March this year, after which we followed it up with Aditi and her mother several times. What can we do if they didn’t respond?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Aditi is a doubtful starter for this year’s edition. She has qualified for the Buick LPGA Shanghai, China, whose dates are clashing with the Indian Open.

International titles

Shubhankar first Indian Rookie of Year in European Tour: 2018

Shubhankar Europe’s ‘Rookie of the Year’, November 19, 2018: The Times of India

Dubai: India’s Shubhankar Sharma became the first Indian to emerge as the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year on the European Tour despite a disappointing final round of 80 at the DP World Tour Championships. Sharma follows Jon Rahm (2017), Wang Jeunghun (2016), Byeong Hun An (2015) and Brooks Koepka (2014) who have been the four Rookies before him.

No Indian has won the Rookie of the Year award in European Tour, though three Indians — Arjun Atwal (1995), Shiv Kapur (2005) and C Muniyappa (2009) emerged as Rookie of the Year on the Asian Tour. However, Sharma carded eight-over 80 in the final round of the DP World Tour Championships. He signed off tied-41st. PTI

The Majors and Indians

As in 2018

Anirban surpasses Jeev in Major mark, August 9, 2018: The Times of India

The Majors and Indian golfers, As in 2018, August
From: Anirban surpasses Jeev in Major mark, August 9, 2018: The Times of India

St Louis: Anirban Lahiri will achieve a coveted landmark when he plays in his 15th Majors at the PGA Championship, surpassing Jeev Milkha Singh’s previous Indian record of 14. Lahiri’s younger colleague, Shubhankar Sharma, who has been the star of 2018, will also be in the field and becomes the youngest Indian and the third overall to have played all four Majors in a single year after Jeev (in 2007) and Lahiri (in 2015 and 2016).

As for Lahiri, his tied sixth finish at the WGC-Bridgestone is a proof of his improvement. Lahiri is also up to 82nd on FedExCup rankings and he could improve that this week. It has now put him back in top-100 of world rankings, and only four places behind Shubhankar. Shubhankar has played the first three Majors, but made the cut in only one - the Open, where he was tied 51. He was tied 9th at his first WGC, but has since been languishing lower down at both WGC Matchplay as also WGC-Bridgestone.

Sharma plays with Scott Piercy and Jordan Smith and will start at 10th tee in the morning wave, while Lahiri plays the first round in the afternoon alongside Brian Smock and Mike Lorenzo Vera.

Women's golf

ShopRite LPGA Classic, New Jersey

2017: Aditi, Sharmila tee up

Historic first: Aditi and Sharmila tee up at LPGA, June 1, 2017: The Times of India

This week's ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey will mark a historic moment for Indian women's golf as Aditi Ashok and Sharmila Nicollet will be teeing up at the event for the first time ever.

Aditi, winner of the Hero Women's Indian Open among the two titles she bagged in her Rookie Year as a professional in 2016, has earned a special status on the LPGA.

Sharmila topped a unique twitter poll to gain one of the sponsors' berth in the USD 1.5 million event. Sharmila, who till a few years back played on the Ladies European Tour before losing her card due to injuries and loss of form, topped the poll, which was LPGA's way of popularising women's golf around the world. She won the poll. The Indian girl, who held the flag for Asia, topped the poll. Aditi has so far played five LPGA events and made cuts in four. Her best finish has been tied-42 so far, but it is clear that she is slowly but steadily adapting to the conditions in the USA.

See also

Golf courses: India

Golf: India