Currently at least four Indian boys and two Indian girls are playing for US college teams in USA – more than at any other time in Indian golf history. Although US college golf has been the preferred route for most PGA and LPGA Tour stars, the difficulty of getting admitted and selected to good college teams has been one of the reasons for Indians earlier not choosing this path. Also with the expense involved plus a lot of pressure on students to perform both on the course and in the classroom, turning pro early perhaps is the choice that makes more sense to a lot of talented Indian students.
Here India Golf Weekly brings you updates on their performances especially as the year is now ending – with big college tournaments happening in April, these players have not been able to travel back to India for the Asian Games trials taking place in Kolkata this week.
Anika Varma cracks top-10 in Arizona
Anika registered a T-9th finish in Arizona
Anika Varma, who plays for Oregon University, shot 70-72-72 (2-under 214) to finish creditably tied for 9th in the season-ending Pac-12 Women’s Championship played in Phoenix, Arizona.
.@anikavarma05 gets the birdie to fall at 18!
She secures a 6-under 282 for Oregon in the final round, putting the Ducks alone in 2nd at -8 overall
USC leads at -15 but still has some holes to play…#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/AUx8V4npW1
— Oregon Women’s Golf (@OregonWGolf) April 19, 2023
Varma’s Oregon team also finished in 2nd place behind University of Southern California, one of the strongest teams in the US, which won the team event by seven strokes. The three-day, stroke-play event featured 11 college teams (57 players) and is one of the biggest college events of the year in the Western region of USA.
Results –
https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=27788
Varma had a couple of really good amateur seasons in California that led to Oregon recruiting her and she intends to play four years of NCAA college golf while earning her undergraduate degree.
Megha Ganne, an Indian American in the same tournament who is ranked 9th in the World Rankings, playing for Stanford, finished 28th which shows just how competitive the tournament was and how good Anika’s performance is. Ganne’s Stanford team finished third, one-stroke behind Anika’s Oregon.
Verma was among the players who had been asked to attend the Asian Games trials at Kolkata from April 24-27th, but couldn’t make the trip.
Raghav seventh in Alabama
Another One!
Raghav Chugh earns third @ConferenceUSA Golfer of the Week award this year
» https://t.co/tkZFzVXP9i#GoOwls x #RFND pic.twitter.com/j9BAC7yHOh
— Rice Golf (@RiceGolf) April 5, 2023
Raghav Chugh from New Delhi, a former India No 1 amateur, completing his 2nd year at Rice University in Houston, shot 73-68-72 (3-under 213) to finish tied for 7th at the Bearkat Invitational in Huntsville, the capital city of Alabama state.
It was his third top-10 finish of the year and he was named the Conference Golfer of the Week for the third time this year.
Earlier in Feb. Raghav shot 69-74-71 (2-under 214) to finish tied-3rd in the Border Olympics at The Laredo Country Club in Laredo, TX as he continues to perform consistently well in his first two years in college.
Khushi Hooda finishes in the top-7 in Arizona
Khusi Hooda is a first year student at the University of British Columbia
Khushi Hooda of New Delhi, was named Rookie of the Year at the University of British Columbia golf team where she has just completed her first-year after enjoying a successful amateur and junior career playing in India.
At her last college tournament played in late March, the Embry Riddle Spring Invitational college in Arizona, the 5 ft 8 inch tall Khushi finished very creditably tied for 7th while her team finished third. Earlier Khushi had led her team to another podium finish taking 8th place individually at another tournament in Nevada.
Khushi and her team will be able to participate at the Canadian University/College Championships which will take place May 30- June 2nd in Ontario.
With Khushi having just completed her first year, we are excited to see her progress on the collegiate level in American over the coming seasons.
Credits:-
Photo – Oregon W Golf / Rice Golf / British Columbia University