S Raamassubramanian (Treasurer, TNGF), K C Raghunathan (Honorary Associate Secretary, TNGF), Champion Dhruv Sheoran, R K Jhaver (Honorary Secretary, TNGF) and U S Mundy (CEO, PGTI)
29 year old Dhruv Sheoran, from Gurgaon, secured his first professional victory last week at the Rs 50 lac prize money Chennai Pro Championship, held at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course with consistent scores of 69-67-67-69, finishing at 16-under 272 and a three-stroke victory margin.
A two-time Feeder Tour winner in 2018, Sheoran’s win earned him Rs 7.5 lakhs and propelled him to 14th place on the PGTI rankings. Entering the final round tied at 13-under with Manu Gandas, the 2022 PGTI rankings leader, Sheoran’s steady 69 in the final round sealed the victory, while Gandas finished runner-up shooting 72.
Sheoran’s win adds to the growing list of young champions on tour this season, joining Shaurya Binu, the youngest at just 20 years old, and Rayhan Thomas (24), who also secured their first titles.
Bangladesh’s Badal Hossain delivered rounds of 70-68-71-67 to finish in third place at 12-under par.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Veer Ahlawat continues at the top of the PGTI 2024 rankings in the race to finish PGTI No 1 and obtain playing rights for the European (DP World) Tour for 2025. His Tied 2nd place finish at the lucrative US$2.25 million Hero Indian Open last March gave him a huge lead in earnings.
So far the two Indians who have earned European playing rights after finishing on top of PGTI rankings in 2022 and 2023 – Manu Gandas and OP Chouhan have found the competition and conditions in Europe to be too tough and failed to capitalise on the amazing opportunity on golf’s 2nd richest pro tour. If the long-hitting Veer Ahlawat gets there in 2025, it could be a different story.
The poor performance of Gandas and Chouhan in Europe highlights the disadvantages PGTI pros are facing playing low grade courses around India – they are unable to compete when they travel overseas to global championship conditions.
Only Gaganjeet Bhullar, who finished 3rd on the Asian Tour rankings in 2023 and Rahil Gangjee, who lies 2nd on the 2024 Asian Development Tour, have been able to achieve any kind of success outside India recently – but both have benefited from playing the majority of their golf overseas in their careers.
Someone needs to address the question of how future Indian world class players are going to emerge?
Photo – PGTI