By Rahul Banerji
India’s highest-ranked, age-eligible golfer, Kartik Sharma, will be part of Stuart Appleby’s Internationals team to take on the United States led by Justin Leonard in the Junior President Cup in Melbourne this December.
The Junior Presidents Cup (December 8 and 9) precedes the senior event that will see Ernie Els’ Internationals take on Tiger Woods-led Team USA at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club a few days later.
Kartik will be the second Indian to play the Junior Presidents Cup after Rayhan Thomas qualified to do so at the inaugural edition of the event two years ago.
Team USA won that year by a 14-10 margin at the Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey, where David Toms led the home side and South Africa’s Trevor Immelman led the Internationals.
High ranking
Following the cutoff date, Sharma is fourth in the relevant world rankings on 890.9688 points behind South Africans Karl Vilips (1031.8942), Martin Vorster (955.2684) and Jayden Schaper (936.4619).
According to the event’s website, “the Internationals eligibility criteria is, the leading 12 qualified players based on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) as of September 5, 2019.
“Each International team participant must be a citizen of an eligible international Presidents Cup country (excludes European Ryder Cup countries).”
As for the event itself, the website adds, “Teams will consist of the top 24 junior boys from the United States and around the world, excluding Europe, split up into teams of 12.
“Participants for both teams must be at least 12 years old by the start of the tournament and must have not reached their 19th birthday or have yet graduated high school as of January 1, 2019.
See list of eligible players at FULL STANDINGS
“Additionally, participants must be amateurs who have not yet started college and are not members of a competitive collegiate golf programme in order to be eligible to play in the Junior Presidents Cup.”
Good break
Kartik is currently third in the Indian Golf Union’s gentlemen’s Order of Merit. He is also the beneficiary of a tournament invitation to next week’s inaugural $300,000 Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship.
Kartik will retain his amateur status at the event alongside the top-ranked Harshjeet Singh Sethie.
In January this year, the bespectacled Kartik won the New South Wales men’s amateur golf championship in Australia, a 36-hole event. He has represented India in the past, starting with the 2013 Evian Junior Masters in France.
The long-hitting Gurgaon-based left-hander finished runner-up at the 2015 Asian Tournament of Champions in China and emerged winner at the 2017 Dubai Juniors International Golf Tournament in Dubai Creek.
Also read: Bhati, Chowhan top IGU Delhi State NCR championship
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