Is Avani Prashanth the youngest winner of a pro golf event?

By Rahul Banerji

Trawling the records of Indian women’s professional golf is not a very rewarding exercise and leaves the question open, whether Avani Prashanth is the youngest-ever winner of a domestic pro event.

Avani, who topped the field in the third leg of the 2021 Hero WPGT schedule at the Bombay Presidency course, was 14 years, four months and five days of age (born October 7, 2006).

Record-hunting is not a favourite past-time, but her age did set a bell ringing. Has anyone younger than the Bangalore girl won a professional tournament (albeit as an amateur) anywhere before?

With very little by way of information available, even on the achievers on the Indian panorama, the best one could come up with was past winners on the pro tour as amateurs.

The list includes Ridhima Dilawari and Pranavi Urs, who won as amateurs in 2018, Diksha Dagar in 2017, Gurbani Singh, Aditi Ashok and Tvesa Malik in 2015 and Raksha Phadke and Mehar Atwal in 2014.

More recently, Pranavi won in 2020 too before turning pro, and national women’s and girls champion Sneha Singh, who topped the field in August, 2019 as a 15-year-old.

Record-hunting

Digging into stats from elsewhere threw up Thai prodigy Atthaya Thitikul, who won the Ladies European Thailand Championship as an amateur in July 2017.

At the time, Atthaya was 14 years 4 months and 19 days old, which made her the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf tournament. 

So does that stat suggest Avani is now the youngest ever?

Casting the net wider, we find this:

The world’s top professional tour, the LPGA has seen several teenage winners — both in terms of tournaments won and individual players to win in their teens.

Most of those wins have come since 2004.

According to the LPGA, Paula Creamer won the 2005 Sybase Classic as the age of 18 years, 9 months, 17 days.

However, Lydia Ko remains the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history in terms of both age of her first win and having the most wins on the list of those by the youngest players.

The New Zealand-born golfer took the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open title as an amateur at age 15 years, four months and three days.

She then defended the title at the 2013 Canadian Women’s Open to win on the LPGA as the second-youngest winner too at age 16 years, four months and one day.

Youngest individual winners in LPGA Tour history

Lydia Ko, 15 years, 4 months, 3 days — 2012 Canadian Women’s Open

Lexi Thompson, 16 years, 7 months, 8 days — 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic

Brooke Henderson, 17 years, 11 months, 6 days — 2015 LPGA Cambia Portland Classic

Marlene Hagge, 18 years, 14 days — 1952 Sarasota Open

Paula Creamer, 18 years, 9 months, 17 days — 2005 Sybase Classic

Morgan Pressel, 18 years, 10 months, 9 days — 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship

Jessica Korda, 18 years, 11 months and 2 days — 2018 Women’s Australian Open

Minjee Lee, 18 years, 11 months, 3 weeks — 2015 Kingsmill Championship

At 15 years, nine months and 17 days, Lydia won the Ladies European Tour’s New Zealand Open in 2013. It seemed an almost impossible mark to attain, but Atthaya was to improve that that by nearly 17 months.

Again, according to the LPGA, from 1950 till 1999, there were six Tour victories by players age 19 and younger. From 2000 to 2009, that number climbed to seven wins.

Since 2010 though, there has been a surge of teenage toppers and the previous decade saw 28 wins on the LPGA Tour by players age 19 or younger. 

Lydia Ko accounted for half of them – but in all, eight different women won as teenagers during the decade.

To counter-balance the pro stats, here’s a readout of numbers from the USGA, of the youngest ever winners in US Women’s Amateur play

Youngest USGA women champions

Kimberly Kim, 14 years, 11 months, 21 days, in 2006
Lydia Ko, 15 years, 3months, 18 days, in 2012
Laura Baugh, 16 years, 2months, 21 days, in 1971

Make of all that what you will, but certainly Avani Prashanth’s feat in Mumbai on Friday, February 12, 2021, deserves to be recorded on a very short list.

Also read: Hyderabad amateur beats quality field for Hero Women’s Pro Tour title