Chandigarh golfer Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal on his way into the day one lead of the inaugural PGTI NexGen tournament at the Golden Greens course near Gurgaon on Tuesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Seasoned campaigner Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal fired a red-hot 7 under par 65 for the round one lead at the PGTI NexGen season-opener at the Golden Greens Golf & Polo Club near Gurgaon on Tuesday.
The Chandigarh golfer hit an eagle and five birdies on the way to his 65 and a three-shot lead, the PGTI said.
The NexGen series is restricted to those below 60th place in the PGTI Order of Merit and each 54-hole event offers Rs 20 lakh as the prize purse with the rankings leader earning exemption on the main tour for the 2026 season.
It also fills in a gap in the PGTI schedule with the next three tournaments being two co-sanctioned events with the HotelPlanner Tour – the $300,000 Challengers in Kolkata and Delhi — and the DP World Tour co-sanctioned 58th $2.25 million Hero Indian Open thereafter.
Chandarjeet Yadav from Chandimandir in Haryana, was second with a 4 under 68 on the opening day at Golden Greens
Jatiwal, who won his only title on professional debut back in 1998, made all his gains early with five birdies between holes one and 10 and followed that up with an eagle on 11 from a 10-foot putt.
Narrow miss
Jatiwal sank two more long birdie putts and landed wedge shots within four feet on two other occasions for birdies. He narrowly missed a hole-in-one on eight which fetched another birdie.
Jatiwal said, “I’m really pleased with this effort considering the course conditions were quite tough as the wind was up when I was playing.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start. It’s important for me to just keep it going from here on. I’ve had a decent start to the 2025 season on the main tour and that has given me the confidence coming into this week.”
In all, there will be three NexGen events in this phase of the season with a field of 90 for the opener.
The Golden Greens tournament will be followed by PGTI NexGen Kapurthala March 18 to 20 at the RCF Golf Club and the Phillaur Open presented by R.S. Gill from March 25 to 27 at the Ranjitgarh Golf Club in Phillaur.
Said PGTI chief executive Amandeep Johl, “The NexGen Tour is in line with our president, Mr. Kapil Dev’s vision of equal playing opportunities to our professional golfers and to increase the bench strength which in turn increases competition and the level of golf.”
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