Yuraj Singh Sandhu makes history as he clinches an international victory, marking the first Indian golfer to achieve this feat since Gaganjeet Bhullar’s triumph at the 2022 Indonesia Open, held at the iconic Pondok Indah venue
Our readers have been starved of international professional victories by Indian men in the past 5 years after the flood of successes that took place in the period from 2000 to 2015. On the other hand countries like Thailand have produced several new players who have racked up a slew of international pro victories during the same period
So Chandigarh’s 26 year old Yuvraj Singh’s victory last week in Indonesia on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) was great news !
Yuvraj who has tasted success as an amateur and as a pro in India has chosen to keep playing overseas along with a couple of other Indians instead of returning to the safe confines of the PGTI. He shot a brilliant total of 23 under par ( 67-64-69-65 ) to win the US$ 125,000 BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament by a four-stroke margin for a convincing victory.
The top-10 players on the ADT at year end are guaranteed playing rights on the main Asian Tour for the following year which has grown to be lucrative with the addition of the 10 events comprising the International Series.
The Asian Development Tour (ADT), is a feeder tour to the Asian Tour created in 2010, with average prize money of US$ 90,000 for 2023. The tour staged 16 events in 2022 and as of now only has a total of 9 tournaments listed for 2023.
As of now, Sandhu, who had registered a record five wins on the PGTI in 2022 to finish runners-up on the rankings is also guaranteed a valuable spot in the Final Stage of the DP World (European) Tour Qualifying School, scheduled for Nov. 10-15 in Spain.
Samarth Dwivedi, the other Indian in the field shot 71-66-63-72 (16-under 272) to finish 8th.
This week Yuvraj is in Vietnam to play the US$ 100,000 BRG Open Golf Championship from Aug. 31-Sep. 2.
Credits:-
Photo – ADT