Mahreen shares lead at US Kids Golf European Championships

By Rahul Banerji

Mahreen Bhatia led the way at the 2023 US Kids Golf European Championships with as many nine Indians in the top 10 after the first day of the three-day competition being held across five Scottish golf courses.

While Gurgaon’s Mahreen shared the lead in the Girls 13-14 category, five other Indians were in the top five after the first day.

Carrying on with her outstanding season, Mahreen was tied for the lead at Royal Musselburgh Golf Club with a 3 under 69.

Her card for the day included a stunning five-birdie run on the front nine before adding two more birdies and dropping four shots.

Mahreen shared the lead with Estonian golfer, Iiris Matas.

Among the other top Indian performers on the first day was Chandigarh’s Harjai Milkha Singh (Boys 13), son of Indian legend, Jeev Milkha Singh.

Harjai shot a level par 72 with four birdies and four bogeys and was tied for third place, one behind co-leaders Giancarlo Aguirre of Peru, and Jack McKenna of Ireland.

In the same section, Gurgaon’s Vihaan Jain was T5 with a 1 over 73 and Noida’s Arshvant Srivastava was T8 with 75 as the competition among the 42 players was tight.

Good run

In the Boys 10 category, Delhi golfer Vidit Aggarwal was T3 with 75 (+3), just one shot behind leaders, Freddie Buck of the US, and UK’s Leo Taylor at Craigielaw Golf Club.

In the Boys 9 category, Bangalore’s Adit Veeramachaneni, who had a phenomenal showing on the home circuit, was sole fourth with a 72 at Musselburgh.

He was two shots behind the leader, Marcus Karim of the UK, who had a 2-under 70.

Nihal Cheema, the youngest in the Indian squad, was T5 in the Boys 7 with a level par 36 over nine holes at Longniddry Golf Club.

Ananyaa Sood (77) was T6 in the Girls 12 at Glen Golf Club, while Naina Kapoor (81) was T8 in Girls 11 at Royal Musselburgh.

In all, 16 Indians are battling it out in 10 different age groups – seven boys events and three in the girls section.

Next step

Participants qualified on the basis of performances on their local tours including US Kids Golf India and over 50 countries are represented at the European Championships.

Following the three-day championship qualifying boys and girls from each age group 12-years-old and older will be selected to play in the European Van Horn Cup, a one-day best ball tournament at Craigielaw Golf Club.

Selection will be based on score after 36 holes (Round 2) with the top four in each age group (ages 12 and up) going through. In the past Arshvant Srivastava has qualified for the Van Horn Cup.

Indian results

Boys Under 7: (Longniddry GC – 9 holes) T5 Nihaal Cheema 36;

Boys Under 8: (Longniddry GC – 9 holes) T23 Sahib Ajula (42)

Boys 9: (Musselburgh GC) 4th Adit Veeramachaneni (72); T16 Siddhant Sharma (80)

Boys 10: (Craigielaw GC) T3Vidit Aggarwal (75); T45 Aarnav Patel(95)

Boys 11: (Craigielaw GC) 46th Paranjaay Mahtani (102)

Boys 12: (Glen Golf Club) T29 Rayan Sao (80); T36 Devvrat Singh Rajawat (82)

Boys 13: (Royal Musselburgh GC) T3 Harjai Milkha Singh (72); T5 Vihaan Jain (73); T8 Arshvant Srivastava (75)

Boys 15-18: (Musselburgh GC) 11th Manyaveer Bhadoo (82)

Girls 11: (Royal Musselburgh GC) T8 Naina Kapoor (81);

Girls 12: (Glen Golf Club) T6 Ananyaa Sood (77)

Girls 13-14: (Royal Musselburgh GC) T1 Mahreen Bhatia (69)

Also read: US Kids Golf India to expand home series, run events across Asia