Zara Anand goes 3-under at U.S. Kids Golf India Tour’s Jaypee event

By Rahul Banerji

Zara Anand of Delhi carded an eagle and five birdies on her way to victory in the girls 10-11 years event with a 3-under par round of 69 of the U.S. Kids Golf India Tour tournament at the par-72 Jaypee Greens golf course here on Thursday.

Among other winners on the day were recent U.S. Kids Golf European Championship topper Chaitanya Pandey of Delhi in the boys 8 years, Arav Shah of Melbourne in the boys 12 years group and Gurgaon’s Jai Bahl (13-14 years), both with 2-over par scores of 74.

Zara’s round was a roller-coaster ride. She dropped four shots in her first nine holes against two birdies to make the turn on 2-over 38 before blitzing the course on her back nine with an eagle on the par-5 13^th hole besides three birdies.

Her card of 69 was the day’s best.

More success

Chaitanya, who won the 7 years and under event of U.S. Kids Golf tournament in Scotland two weeks ago, topped the 8 years section here with a 2-over round of 38 with the competition played over nine holes. His card had two birdies against a triple and a bogey.

Raajveer Singh (boys 7 years), Prince Bainsala (boys 8 years), Arshvant Srivastava (boys 10 years), Udai Aditya Middha (boys 11 years) and Puryanush Mangal (boys 15-18 years) were the other toppers in the boys’ competitions.

Detailed results from Jaypee Greens Golf Course

In the girls section, the other winners were Naina Kapoor (7 years), Samaira Tomar (8-9 years), Ragini Navet (12-14 years) and Sifat Sayal (15-18 years), who edged out Serena Vikram Singh in a play-off after both finished with rounds of 80.

In all, 62 kids participated in the second leg of the North India section of the U.S. Kids Golf India Tour.

The India Tour, which has 16 events in all divided between the northern and southern sections, carries ranking points.

With participation in a minimum number of events, junior golfers are eligible for qualification for the U.S. Kids World Championship, U.S. Kids European Championships as well as the Teen World Championship.

Results (gross)

Boys 7 years (9 holes): 1, Raajveer Singh 53

Boys 8 years (9 holes): 1. Chaitanya Pandey 38, 2. Rayan Sao 43, 3. Ayaan Hans 55

Boys 9 years (18 holes): 1. Prince Bainsla 79, 2. Sohag Har Kantor 82, 3. Armin Paul Singh 84

Boys 10 years (18 holes): 1. Arshvant Srivastava 80, 2. Bhavesh Nirwan 81, 3. Ayan Dubey 86

Boys 11 years (18 holes): 1. Udai Aditya Middha 82, 2. Pritish Singh Karayat 86, 3. Samarveer Singh Maini 87.

Boys 12 years (18 holes): 1. Arav (Arrow) Shah 74, 2. Kushagra Tokas 80, 3. Ishaan Sawhney 100.

Boys 13-14 years (18 holes): 1. Jai Bahl 74, 2. Anshul Kabthiyal 81, 3. Ritadhwaj Bose 90.

Boys 15-18 years (18 holes): 1. Puryanush Mangal 78, 2. Aarnav Sharma 80, 3. Suryaveer Singh 82.

Girls 7 years and under (9 holes): 1. Naina Kapoor 46

Girls 8-9 years: Samaira Tomar 36, 2. Shambhavi Chaturvedi 43

Girls 10-11 years (18 holes): 1. Zara Anand 69, 2. Prarthna Khanna 78, 3. Parnika Sharma 86

Girls 12-14 years (18 holes): 1. Ragini Navet 75, 2. Vanya Bansal 83, 3. Serena Khanna 84

Girls 15-18 years (18 holes): 1. Sifat Sayal 80, 2. Serena Vikram Singh 80 (in play-off).

Also read: Eight top-10s by India unit at U.S. Kids Golf Euro Championship