Young guns out to make a mark at Panasonic Open India

By Rahul Banerji

Top Indian amateurs Aadil Bedi (17), Kshitij Naveed Kaul (17) and Yuvraj Sandhu (21) will turn professional at the $400,000 Panasonic Open India that begins at the Delhi Golf Club on Thursday.

They follow in the footsteps of 20-year-old Viraj Madappa, who in August won the Take Solutions Masters in his rookie year to become the youngest Indian ever to win on the Asian Tour.

Two weeks before that Madappa finished in a share for 14^th place at the Royal Cup. In the first week of October, he was tied fourth at the Yeangder TPC.

Kaul played in the Jakarta Asian Games, the Eisenhower world amateur team event in Northern Ireland and the Asia-Pacific Amateurs in Singapore. He also reached the final of the all-India Amateurs in December 2015 as a 15-year-old.

This year Kaul was the best-placed amateur at the Hero Indian Open in March and finished T32 overall.

Most recently, Bedi tuned up at the Asiad and Eisenhower Cup, while Sandhu turned out at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships.

Bedi was T14 at the Louis Philippe Cup on the Asian Development Tour and T23 at the Take Solution Masters. Both events were held in Bengaluru this August.

Impressive show

Sandhu was fourth at Jaipur while still an amateur in the first week of September and a week later again made the cut at the QA Infotech Open. Both events were on the Indian pro tour.

Bedi, supported by the Virat Kohli Foundation, feels he is ready for pro golf, while Kaul says that despite his age is he ready for the challenge.

Kaul said, “I am very excited to play my first event as a professional on my home course this week. It’s very nice and I feel good because I am playing well now. I have played a few times with Shiv Kapur and it’s nice.

“The DGC is my home club so I hope I can take advantage of my course knowledge this week.

“I hope to do the same like what I have been doing before although I am playing in my first event as a professional this week.”

Sandhu, who had a good start in pro company at the Jaipur Open, said, “Even as an amateur I felt comfortable in Jaipur and making the cuts at Jaipur and Noida boosted my confidence.”

Early start

Kshitij will be the first of the three to go off in the morning as he plays with Australia’s Maverick Antcliff and Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja at 7.45 am.

At 11.40 am, Aadil Bedi tees off alongside Panuphol Pittyarat of Thailand and South African Jbe Kruger and an hour later, Sandhu goes out with Javier Gallegos of Spain and Shaktawat Sohel of Bangladesh.

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