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SportsGolf

McIlroy and Fleetwood tee off in Delhi as five Indian teenagers make India Championship debut

The $4 million India Championship starts at Delhi Golf Club on Thursday, with defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and a new generation of Indian professionals in the field.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiPublished
Rory McIlroy and Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood (file photos)
Rory McIlroy and Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood (file photos)Photos: TourProGolfClubs / Wikimedia Commons; The PGA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 and CC BY 3.0

Key points

  1. The $4 million India Championship begins at Delhi Golf Club on Thursday.
  2. Tommy Fleetwood is the defending champion, and Rory McIlroy is also in the field.
  3. Five young Indians, the youngest 16-year-old Kartik Singh, are making their debut.

Rory McIlroy and the defending champion Tommy Fleetwood headline the field as the $4 million India Championship gets under way at Delhi Golf Club on Thursday morning. For five young Indians, the more remarkable thing is simply being on the same tee sheet.

The season-ending event will also settle the DP World PGTI Order of Merit, the Indian tour’s money list, and with it a pathway to the DP World Tour. Saptak Talwar leads that list going into the week, ahead of Khalin Joshi and Veer Ahlawat, and the three head the home challenge along with players such as Rashid Khan.

The debutants

Five players between 16 and 22 earned their places by finishing inside the top 24 of the Race to India Championship at the Kapil Dev Invitational Tour Championship in Greater Noida last week.

The youngest, Kartik Singh, is 16 and was India’s top-ranked junior and amateur before turning professional. He has two top-10 finishes in his first season on the DP World PGTI. “I have watched the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on television for years,” he said.

Vishesh Sharma, 19, from Hyderabad, won at his home course last month. “It’s an honour to be here, playing alongside the biggest golfing stars in the world and my fellow Indian players,” he said.

Manoj S, an 18-year-old from Bengaluru in his second season as a professional, was joint runner-up in Greater Noida. He has settled on a cautious game plan. “I am not hitting driver at all this week,” he said.

Anshul Kabthiyal, 21, has four top-10 finishes this season, among them a runner-up place, and won 10 junior and six amateur titles before turning professional.

For Shubham Jaglan, 22, it is a homecoming. The former India No. 1 junior played college golf in the United States and won his first professional title in Kolkata two months ago. “I am very excited to compete at the DGC where I have grown up playing,” he said.

A bigger stage for Indian golf

Amandeep Johl, chief executive of the DP World PGTI, said the number of young Indian golfers in the field showed the growing strength and depth of the game in the country.

McIlroy and Fleetwood will be the main draw for galleries in Delhi, but the Order of Merit race among Talwar, Joshi and Ahlawat could be just as tense, with a route to Europe’s main tour at stake.