Thirty-two qualify for US Kids Golf Europe events

By Rahul Banerji

India’s growing interest in junior golf was underlined with as many as 32 players in various age-groups qualifying for further competitions under the global banner of the US Kids Golf. The 32 are from 13 age groups – eight among boys and five among girls.

In all, 20 boys and 12 girls are now eligible with priority status US Kids global events in Europe and some of them will also be eligible for World Championships, depending on their status.

Of the five priority status categories, Burgundy status holders will be eligible for US Kids World Championships which 13 have earned on the basis of their scoring. Of the remaining, 14 have Orange status and five have Blue status.

What is priority status?

All those participating in U.S. Kids Golf events have the opportunity to earn priority status, which is  a qualification system that determines when players receive invitations for multi-day events.

There are five levels: Platinum (highest), Burgundy, Green, Orange, and Blue (lowest). Players must also meet the scoring requirement for their age group and the priority status is valid for one year. Players can have multiple levels of status, each level with its own expiration date.

To earn priority status from a local tour, a player must fulfill three requirements::

1.      Play at least four events on one local tour season

2.      Meet scoring requirements at least twice in the same local tour season

3.      Finish in the top-5 or 6 in the season’s final points standings.

This year the European segment of US Kids will see the young golfers practice and play at courses like the Renaissance, Gullane, Craigelaw, Archerfield Links and others.

Each age-group’s competition is held at a different venue and all the events are scheduled for the last week of May.

Gullane is where the Scottish Open was held last year with Shubhankar Sharma playing it for the first time, while this year’s Scottish Open is scheduled to be held at the Renaissance.,The UK Kids Golf events will therefore give the competitors an early feel of course they will hope to play on as adults.

First exposure

Several youngsters who have achieved priority status this season will be playing in Europe for the first time, adding to their experience of playing in quality courses in India and Asia and now Europe.

According to Rajesh Srivastava, president, US Kids India, “Our main aim is to get these youngsters ready for the bigger challenges as they grow in the sport and get to play where the world’s best compete which have hosted Rolex series events like Scottish Open on the European Tour.

“So, when these young players finally to get play major events at the same courses, they will not be in awe of them, but ready to take on the challenge.”

Players qualified (status in brackets):

Boys Under 6: Priaan Kantawala (Burgundy)

Boys Under-7: Darshit Chaurasia  (Orange); Chaitanya Pandey (Burgundy); Sao Rayan (Orange)

Boys Under 8: Mudit Agarwal (Orange); Sohang Har Kantor (Burgundy);

Boys Under 10: Prashant Agarwal (Burgundy); Aditya Khaitan (Orange); Udai Aditya Middha (Orange); Ranveer Mitroo (Blue)

Boys Under 12: Shlok Jain (Burgundy);

Boys 13-14: Jai Bahl (Orange); Anshul Bhatiya (Blue); Garv Lakhmani (Blue); Ramayush Ray (Burgundy)

Boys 15-18: Kaushal Bagrodia (Burgundy); Joysurjo Dey (Orange)

Boys Under 9: Ayan Dubey (Orange); Jay Handa (Blue); Bhavesh Nirwan (Burgundy); Arshvant Srivastava (Orange);

Girls Under 7: Anushka Gupta (Orange); Naina Kapoor (Burgundy).

Girls 8-9: Shambhavi Chaturvedi (Blue); Ayesha Gupta (Orange); Rhea Kumar (Burgundy); Parnika Sharma (Orange).

Girls 10-11: Prarthana (Orange); Serena Khanna (Burgundy); Palakshi Sehrawat (Orange)

Girls 12-14: Ragini Navet  (Burgundy)

Girls 15-18: Serena Vikram Singh (Burgundy)

Sandhu best Indian at Volvo China Open

In Shenzhen, Khalin Joshi dropped in the third round of the the Volvo China Open on Saturday with a 6-over 78 from tied 23 to tied 65 at the end of the third round. S.S.P. Chawrasia (72) was tied 59, but the best Indian was Ajeetesh Sandhu (69) at tied 39th after 54 holes.

France’s Benjamin Hebert stunned the field with his 8-under-par 64 to snatch the third round lead to take a three-shot cushion into the final round.

Finland’s Mikko Korhonen and Spain’s Jorge Campillio took advantage of China’s Wu Ashun’s slip-up by posting rounds of 65 and 68 respectively to share second place 14-unde 202s at the Genzon Golf Club.

Wu was left to rue four costly bogeys which saw him lose his grip on his overnight lead as he slipped to fourth place, four shots back of Hebert with a 72.

In Korea, sole Indian survivor Aman Raj carded a 1-over 72 to sit on 4-over 217 and tied 42^nd place from his overnight placing at the $1.06 million 38^th GC Caltex Maekyung Open and 13 shots behind the leaders.

Also read: US Kids Golf debut season ends with new annual events on the cards