Landmark US Kids Golf Indian Championship to offer special cash prizes and pathway to European and World Champs

Gurgaon: Almost a hundred young golf stars will tee up at the fifth edition of the US Kids Indian Championships, which for the first time will also carry prize money as allowed for amateurs.

In a first of sorts each of the 13 categories will carry a prize which will be distributed up to the fifth place, in addition to a special ‘Skills contest’ to be held over two days during the three-day extravaganza at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Classic Golf & Country Club, Manesar from December 17 to 19.

The U.S. Kids Golf Indian Championship 2025, a WAGR-recognized event, will also help players aim for priority status, based on scores, to qualify for the US Kids Golf European in Scotland in May 2026 and US Kids Teen and World Championships in Pinehurst, United States in July-August 2026.

The winners in each age category will receive Rs. 25,000 without any deductions and Rs. 10,000 goes to the runner-up. The third, fourth and fifth place finishers will receive Rs. 5,000 each. Additionally there will be cash prizes in the Skills contest.

Rajesh Srivastava, President of US Kids Golf India and Asia, said, “Apart from customised trophies and specially-crafted giveaways, the cash prizes are a incentives for the young stars from our side.

“We plan to introduce prizes even for local events from 2026 and the number of events will increase from six in India to at least 12 and more. We already 12-18 events in many other countries under US Kids India and Asia. We feel India has the potential to grow more and we propose coaching camps, clinics and much more in the next year or so.”

Srivastava added, “As a global brand, which has customised yardages and equipment, we feel we are giving the youngsters the right encouragement to achieve their potential at every stage of their golf career.”

Some of the well-known names will include Arshvant Srivastava, Prince Bainsla, Bhavesh Nirwan in Boys 15-18; Vidit Aggarwal in Boys 13-14; Adit Veeramachaneni, Sohrab Talwar, Siddhant Sharma in in Boys 12; Drona Singh Dhull in Boys 11 and Vedaansh Jain in Boys 10.

Pocket dynamos Nihal Cheema and Zowra Sikand will compete in the Category Boys 8 and Naaysha S Sinha in Girls 8.

Among girls, the other names include Aahana Srivastava and Aadya Kaushal in Girls 9-10; Aanya Dandriyal in Girls 11-12; Shambhavi Chaturvedi, Rabab Kahlon and Naina Kapoor in Girls 13-14, and Kriti Parekh in 15-18. While these are some of the past winners in local events, many more have shown the potential to take away the honours.

This event which marks the fifth edition is a WAGR and Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) recognised event, underlining its growing international stature and competitive credibility on the global junior golf calendar.

The golfers come from all over Asia and include players from Singapore, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and hosts India. They will compete ion ag e categories ranging from Under-7 to Under 18 years and will play on a course, which has been adjusted for ages, as per US Kids Golf charter.

Recognised as a premier pathway for young and emerging talent, the UD Kids golf India, which now runs events across a dozen countries in Asia, hopes to follow the example of US Kids in United States, which has produced players like current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, major winners Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas, Akshay Bhatia, Aaron Rai and Cameron Young.

Among women, some of the big names who have played the US Kids Golf events are Lexi Thompson, Cheyenne Woods, Brittany Altomare and Alison Corpuz and Indian stars like Aditi Ashok and Avani Prashanth.