Arjun Atwal makes his third consecutive cut on the Senior Tour
Arjun Atwal, India’s only winner on the PGA Tour, shot 72-72-71-74 (9-over 289) to finish tied for 38th in the US$ 3.5mn Kaulig Companies Championship, the third major on the Seniors Tour at Firestone CC in Ohio.
A big thank you to @KauligChamp for giving me an invite into their championship, I’m really looking forward to it.
— Arjun Atwal (@Arjunatwal) July 8, 2023
The 50-year-old Atwal was given a special invite into the event, which was his third of the season. He finished tied for 11th in his senior debut in the Celebrity Classic and tied for 49th in the Senior PGA Championship. Atwal has also played eight events on the main PGA Tour in the 2022-23 season, but made the cut only once.
IGW will keep track of Atwal’s performances on the Champions Tour as there is a realistic possibility that he could win on the senior tour if he gets more playing opportunities.
The evergreen Steve Stricker won the event by three shots to pick up his third senior major of the year, the first time a player has done that since Bernhard Langer in 2017.
Khalin Joshi leads Indians in Thailand
Khalin Joshi registered a T-23rd finish in Thailand
30-year-old Khalin Joshi of Bangalore, a past winner on the Asian Tour, and member of the Indian men’s team for September’s Asian Games, shot 69-66-67-67(11-under 269) to finish tied for 23rd in the US$ 115,500 (THB 4 million) Singha Pattaya Open, a All Thailand Golf Tour event joint sanctioned with The Asian Development Tour, at the Jack Nicklaus design Laem Chabang CC near Pattaya.
Chikkarangappa, shot 65-68-67-71 (9-under 271) to finish T38, followed by Asian Tour winner Rahil Gangjee, who shot 66-68-69-71 (6-under 274) to finish T53, and Olympian Udayan Mane, who shot 65-72-69-69 (5-under 275) to finish T59. All four players are based in Bangalore.
The other Indian pro in the field, Samarth Dwivedi, shot 76-66 (2-over 142) to miss the cut by five-strokes.
The Development Tour now takes a break, like the main Asian Tour, and will next stage an event, Aug. 10-13 at Suwan Golf & CC, outside Bangkok, Thailand. The main Asian Tour will stage the US$500,000 Indonesian Open on August 3-6th where Gaganjeet Bhullar is the defending champion and is likely to see a sizable Indian contingent.
Diksha captains a team at Aramco Series – London
Diksha led her team to a T-23rd finish in London
22 year old Diksha Dagar who won the Czech Open in June and rose to 5th in the Ladies European tour rankings, was named as one of the team captains ( first for any Indian) at the prestigious US$ 1mn Aramco Team Series London event at Centurion Golf Club. Diksha’s team featuring Anais Meyssonnier from France, Sara Kjellker from Sweden, and Amateur Nasseef from Saudi Arabia finished 23rd with a collective score of 11-under par.
The Aramco Team series is in its 3 year as a prestigious five city tour with purses of total US$5 million prize fund in Singapore, Florida, London, Hong Kong, and Riyadh. Each captain picks one pro player, is allocated one more pro by random draw and has one top ranked amateur also on the team. Diksha was a member of the winning team in the Aramco Team series London 2021. Round four will be held in Hongkong October 6-8 while the finale will be in Riyadh from October 27-29, the week after the US$400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open at DLF GC in Delhi on October 19th to 22nd. All events count for the Ladies European Tour and World Rolex rankings.
Diksha will not only play the entire Aramco Series but also the two remaining women’s majors this season—the US$6.5 million Amundi Evian Championship in France from July 27 to 30th and the US$ 7.3 million AIG Women’s (British) Open from August 7 to 10th at Walton Heath in England.
Diksha and other Indian players will now play in Spain at the new US$1.2 million La Sella Open, in what is turning out to be a record prize money year for the Ladies European Tour and for the Indian girls with both Diksha and Aditi Ashok recording Tour victories in 2023.
Anika qualifies in top US Amateur event
Anika Varma continues to gain college golf experience in the US
17-year-old Anika Varma who just finished her first year of college at Oregon University, shot 71-72 (1-under 143) to qualify in seventh place and comfortably advance to the match play section of the prestigious 121st Women’s North & South Amateur, one of the most competitive and prestigious events on the US women’s amateur circuit, played at the historic and famous Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.
The eighth-seeded Varma was unable to progress beyond the first round of matchplay as she lost 4&3 to Sophie Zhang Murphy, a first year student at Princeton University.
The 120-player field plays 36 holes on both Pinehurst No. 2 and Pinehurst No. 4, with the top 32 scores going through to the match play bracket. All match play rounds are contested on Pinehurst No. 2 which will host the US Open on the PGA Tour in 2024.
Credits:-
Photo – LET