The Aramco Team Series winners – Jessica Korda, Alex O’Laughlin, Karoline Lampert and Lina Boqvist
This was a big week on the world tours with Rory Mcilroy winning his 20th PGA Tour title while Jessica Korda, sister of gold medal winner Nelly, won on the LPGA Tour. The official seasons are winding down and it’s gratifying to know that Anirban Lahiri, Aditi Ashok and Shubhankar Sharma have all retained their playing rights on the USPGA, LPGA and European Tours respectively through tough seasons. At least one Indian will be eligible to play each of the three major tours in 2022, which is more than most Asian countries can say.
However the majority of top Indians have relied for the past two decades on the Asian Tour, to hone their skills and earn a livelihood and that tour has been hardest hit since March 2020 and hasn’t held even one single event since that time, because of the travel and quarantine restrictions placed on players. A welcome return of the Asian Tour in Phuket next month is much awaited. Also there is news that the Asian Tour has struck a major deal with backers in Saudi Arabia and we hope this means increased playing opportunities for our Indian players.
Indian amateurs and juniors have also been starved of international competition and their fate too hangs on the opening up of international travel and issuance of visas. Our top amateur players, both boys and girls will be playing the Asia-Pacific Championship during November in UAE and we will keep readers posted on their performances there.
Meanwhile, cooler golf weather has descended in North India and we hope for an active and prosperous festival season for all our readers !
Happy Golfing !
Rishi Narain
Editor & Publisher