Six winners at US Kids Golf Indian C’ship impress on final day

By Rahul Banerji

With five players producing par or better scores while winning their respective age categories, the US Kids Golf Indian Championship provided some high-quality displays on Friday.

Ishan Ahuja (boys 15-18), Adit Veeramachaneni (boys 9) and Kabir Goyal (boys 7 and under) produced one-under rounds at the Classic Golf and Country Club in the final round of the three-day event as did Lavanya Gupta (girls 15-18).

Pritish Singh Karayat overcame a slow first round of 76 with 70-72 on the final two days to beat back a strong field in the boys 13-14.

Rabab Kahlon (girls 9-10), a less-than-fully fit Mahreen Bhatia (girls 13-14), Chaitanya Pandey (boys 11) and Kartik Singh (boys 12) turned in cards of 1-over 73 each to top their age groups.

Dan Van Horn, founder and president of US Kids Golf worldwide gave away the prizes.

In his address, Van Horn said that some of the best current golfers in the world like Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, and women’s star Lexi Thompson had played the US Kids events.

US achievers

He also revealed that more than 40 players in both the US Open and Women’s US Open had played in US Kids Golf, underlining the strong foundation the series provides.

In the girls 11-12, Kriti Parekh kept her nerve as rivals Amiya Koul (Singapore) and Shambhavi Chaturvedi fell to bogeys in their final hole.

Kriti had dropped three shots on her first nine and another four on the second nine, but her 36-hole lead of two shots held good as she won by one over Amiya and by two over Shambhavi.

Amaira Gulati produced another consistent nine-hole round of two over 38 in the girls 8 and under, to win by a whopping 12 strokes.

Jot Sarup Gupta shot a nine-hole score of 43 in the final round of the boys 8 and Vidit Aggarwal in the boys 10 carded a 79 but held on to win as his rival failed to capitalise on the opportunity.

Based on performances this week, and on the domestic tour, players will gain eligibility for the World Championship at Pinehurst and the European Championships in Scotland and UK.

Noida tiny tot Kabir Goyal was the only player with under-par rounds on all three days with 33-33-35 on the Canyon Course.

Two other players, both in the boys 12 category, winner Kartik Singh, who was the most consistent with 71-69-73 and second-placed Prince Bainsla 68-71-77 had two under-par rounds in the tournament.

Membership card

US Kids Golf India president Rajesh Srivastava, Classic GCC general manager Rajat Sethi and Van Horn, also unveiled a unique “CGC-US Kids Golf India“ card which with a nominal membership will allow kids to play full rounds even on weekends.

Also, the Canyon Course at the Classic GCC will now have distance and age-specific yardages.

More than 100 youngsters from eight countries took part in the event and the next edition of the Indian Championship will be held in November 2023.

The last two events of the 2022 domestic US Kids Golf India series will be held on December 15 and 16.

Final scores: Girls section

8 & under (9 holes/1495 yards): Amaira Gulati 35-38-38 (+3); Vihana Patel 40-40-43 (+15)

9-10 (18/3995 yards): Rabab Kahlon 85-80-73 (+22); Dalisha Chetry 85-83-76 (+28);

11-12 (18/4585 yards): Kriti Parekh 70-76-78 (+8); Aamiya Koul (Singapore) 75-75-75 (+9)

13-14 (18/5665 yards): Mahreen Bhatia 80-78-73 (+15), Alysha Dutt 80-80-75 (+19)

15-18 (18/5665 yards): Lavanya Gupta 75-73-71 (+3); Diya Brar 77-81-73 (+15)

Boys section

7 & under (9/1755 yards): Kabir Goyal 33-33-35 (-7); Divjot Gupta 41-40-40 (+13)

Age 8 (18/2010 yards): Jot Sarup Gupta 46-55-43 (+36); Arihant Joshi 60-55-56 (+63);

Age 9 (18/3995 yards): Adit Veeramachaneni 73-75-71 (+3); Siddhant Sharma 76-75-76 (+11)

Age 10 (18/4585 yards): Vidit Aggarwal 83-72-79 (+18); Aditya Misra 81-79-79 (+23)

Age 11 (18/5193 yards): Chaitanya Pandey 75-72-73 (+4); Keiran Gouri (Canada) 75-73-78 (+10)

Age 12 (18/5665 yards): Kartik Singh 71-69-73 (-3); Prince Bainsla 68-71-77 (Even);

13-14 (18/6386 yards): Pritish Singh Karayat 76-70-72 (+2); Jai Gupta 70-77-74 (+5)

15-18 (18/6386 yards): Ishan Ahuja 73-72-71 (Even); Ram Singh Mann Ramirez 76-71-74 (+5)

Also read: Tense battles loom on final day of US Kids Golf Indian C’ship