US Kids Golf season underway with an eye on Asian Tour for juniors  

US Kids Golf season underway with an eye on Asian Tour for juniors . 

Khel Today Bureau 

Gurgaon: A fresh season for the US Kids Golf India (North) gets underway this week with back-to-back events at the Classic Golf and Country Club. The events follow a successful season for Indian youngsters at the US Kids European and US Kids World Championships where Indians came back with some wins and a lot of Top-5 finishes in the global events.

The US Kids Golf is the most popular series of events worldwide and India is taking the lead in establishing an US Kids Asian Tour for juniors.

The events will be held on October 4 and 5 at the Jack Nicklaus signature course in Gurgaon. The events in North, South and West will be followed by the US Kids Golf Indian National Championships.

A total of more than 120 entries have been received for the events scheduled on October 4 and 5 at the Jack Nicklaus signature, which was the first signature course in India.

Rajesh Srivastava, President US Kids Golf India and Asia, said, “It has been a great season for us. Our kids did very well in the European and World Championships. In 2023, we will have six events each in three zones, North, which begins this week, and then in South, where events start from October 21 and then in West. East Zone will be added soon.”

“The US Kids Golf Series has also made successful debuts in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand led by US Kids Golf Asia. The number of entries exceeded 100 in many of the events. The local events in each Southeast Asian country will be followed by their respective National Championships.

“We will soon have a US Kids Asia Tour and players from all countries can play in them. It will be a US Kids Golf Junior Tour across the region to give the youngsters a feel of a proper Tour just like what it is on the Asian or European Tours. It will prepare Indian and Asian golfers for the future.”

The events will have on offer status and priority points to qualify for European and World Championships plus AJGA Stars and Junior Scoreboard points, which help in getting entries into more events in the US and help in college golf scholarships.

Some of the names who have had excellent finishes in the recent past at the National and international levels like Divjot Kumar Gupta and Sahib Aujla (Boys 8), Adit Veeramachaneni (Boys 10), Chaitanya Pandey (Boys 12) and Arshvant Srivastava and Prince Bainsla (Boys 13-14) have all signed up once again for the new season.

Among the girls, the tiny prodigies Amaira Gulati and Gairat Kaur Kahlon in Girls 8 section, Aanya Dandriyal in Girls 9-10, Shambhavi Chaturvedi and Naina Kapoor in Girls 11-12 are among those who will be seen in action over the two days.

A big feature of the first two events is that a lot of players from Punjab and Chandigarh are playing.

The six-leg series will be held in the months of October, November, and December with two back-to-back events each month. In addition, the US Kids Golf Indian Championships, which will feature players from more than 15-20 other countries will be held from December 6 to 8, with December 5 being kept aside for practice at the Classic Golf and Country Resort.