Ten Indians set for US Kids Teen World Championships

Ready for the US Kids Teens World Championships-Clockwise from Top left – Mahreen Bhatia, Kartik Singh, Arshvant Srivastava and Ranveer Dhupia.

Khel Today Bureau 

Pinehurst, NC, US: After a superb show in Europe, Indian juniors are set for the US Kids Golf World Teen Championships to be followed by the US Kids Golf World Championships for young golfers between the ages of six and 12.

Ten Indians will feature in the US Kids Golf World Teen Championships and another 12 will tee up at US Kids Worlds for Boys and Girls six to 12. Most have qualified through the Indian Local Tour or  the European Championships in May-June, 2023.

The Boys 13 group has Kartik Singh, Arshvant Srivastava and Vihaan Jain, while the Boys 14 will have Ranveer Mitroo, Tejas Mishra and Udai Aditya Middha. In Boys 15-18, it will be Ranveer Singh Dhupia.

The three girls this week are Asara Sawhney (Girls 13) Mahreen Bhatia (Girls 13) and Lavanya Gupta (Girls 15-18).

Following the three-day championship, there will be the Van Horn Cup,  featuring the top players from each age group at Pinehurst No. 2.

Leading the Indian challenge in Boys 13, considered to be the toughest section, is Kartik Singh, the recently crowned Champion at the FCG Callaway World Junior 2023 in Boys 13-14 at Rancho Mirage. He shot 15-under 201 to earn a two-shot victory. He also played the US Junior Amateurs but missed the cut.

Arshvant Srivastava playing the US Kids Worlds for the fifth time has finished on the podium in Europe and been in Top-10 twice before at Worlds and in Top15 each time. Kartik was third in 2019 and eighth in 2017. They progressed from Boys 7 into teens over the last six years and Boys 13 also includes Vihaan Jain.

At the US Kids European Championships, Harjai Milkha Singh, son of the Indian golfing legend, Jeev Milkha Singh won the Boys 13, but has skipped the Worlds due to school.

Gurgaon golfer Mahreen Bhatia finished second in Girls 13 and is back again this week to make a bid for the World Championships. Bengaluru’s Adit Veeramachaneni was fourth in Boys 9, while Vihaan Jain was T-5^th in Boys 13 and Arshvant Srivastava was seventh in the same section. Ananyaa Sood was fifth in Girls 12 and Naina Kapoor was T-8^th in Girls 11.

Overall, India won one win, two seconds, three other Top-5 finishers and two more in Top-10. Of the 16 Indians who teed up during the week at five famous Scottish golf courses, eight finished in Top-8 or better.

Chandigarh’s Nihal Cheema finished second in Boys Under-7 and will play next week.

The U.S. Kids Golf World Teen Championship is recognised as a ranked event for the Junior Golf Scoreboard and the American Junior Golf Association besides allowing the players to gain World Amateur Golf Ranking points.

World class players emerging from the US Kids include the likes of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time Major winners Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, Sahith Theegala among others while women stars include Lexi Thompson and the latest women’s Major winner, Allisen Corpuz, who won the US Women’s Open last month, is a three time winner and twice runner-up at US Kids. Aditi Ashok, India’s top woman pro, and Avani Prashanth, India’s top amateur also played with distinction at US Kids events.

Indian entrants for World Championships (Boys and Girls 13 to 18):

Boys Under 13 at Longleaf: Kartik Singh, Arshvant Srivastava and Vihaan Jain;

Boys Under 14 at Pinehurst 8: Ranveer Mitroo, Tejas Mishra and Udai Aditya Middha; Boys 15-18 at Pinehurst 4: Ranveer Singh Dhupia

Girls 13 at Pine Needles: Asara Sawhney; Girls 14 at Pinehurst 6: Mahreen Bhatia; Girls 15-18 at Pinehurst 5: Lavanya Gupta.

Next week 12 more Indians will play in the World Championships for Boys and Girls between ages six and 12.

That group will include Ojaswini Saraswat who finished second in Girls 9 last year and will compete in Girls 10 this year.

The Indians entries include: Boys Under 6 at Midland Country Club: Nihal Cheema; Boys Under 8 at Mid Pines Back: Divjot Gupta, Kabir Goyal and Sahib Aujla; Boys Under 10 at Legacy Golf Links: Adit Veeramachaneni; Boys Under 11 at Talamore Golf Club: Chaitanya Pandey

Girls Under 7 at Midland Country Club: Ahana Shah and Vedika Bhansali; Girls Under-10 at Southern Pines GC: Ojaswini Saraswat; Girls Under 11 – Pinehurst 6

Naina Kapoor; Girls Under-12 at Pinehurst 5: Shambhavi Chaturvedi and Ananyaa Sood.