Star players-From Left-Chaitanya Pandey, Arshvant Srivastava, Shambhavi Chaturvedi and Naina Kapoor-01
New Delhi: The 2023 season for US Kids Golf India (North) will tee off from October 4 at the Jack Nicklaus signature course at the Classic Golf and Country Resort.
The six-leg series will be held in the months of October, November, and December with two back-to-back events each month. In addition, the US Kids Golf Indian Championships, which will feature players from more than 15-20 other countries will be held from December 6 to 8, with December 5 being kept aside for practice at the Classic Golf and Country Resort.
Each of the events are expected to see around 70-90 youngsters in age groups ranging from six to 18 in both boys’ and girls’ divisions.
Rajesh Srivastava, President US Kids Golf India and Asia, said, “It has been a great season for us our kids did so well in the European and World Championships. We will now have six events each in three zones, North South and West, with East to come in soon.”
“The US Kids Golf Series has also made successful debuts in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The interest levels have been huge. With more countries expected to join soon, we will be establishing a US Kids Golf Junior Tour across Asia to give the youngsters a feel of a proper Tour just like what it is on the Asian or European Tours. It will prepare young Indian and Asian golfers for the future.”
Many of the participants, who will be seen in the local Tours this year, represented, and won medals in US Kids European and US Kids World Championships. The prominent ones among them being Mahreen Bhatia, who was second in Girls 14 at US Kids World Teens Champs at Pinehurst, Kartik Singh, who was third at the same Championships. Also finishing third was Lavanya Gupta, in Girls 15-18.
At the World Championships for Boys and Girls between six and 12, three Indians, Nihal Cheema (Boys 6), Vedika Bhansali (Girls 7) and Ojaswini Saraswat (Girls 10) and Kabir Goyal was 6th in Boys 8 category.
The team from India also had great success at the US Kids European Championships, Harjai Milkha Singh, son of the Indian golfing legend, Jeev Singh, won the top honours in the Boys 13 category, while Gurgaon golfer Mahreen Bhatia finished second in Girls 13-14 and Chandigarh lad, Nihal Cheema finished second in Boys Under-7. Overall, eight Indians finished in Top-10.
The US Kids Golf India began in 2018 and has since then been regular except during Covid.
The US Kids Golf India series will also see six events each in South and West Zones, the dates of which will be announced shortly.
One of the features of the US Kids Golf India events is that all evens are held on internationally recognized Championship courses, which in the past have hosted international events sanctioned by the Asian Tour and others.
Globally, US Kids Golf has seen the emergence of many world class players and Major winners, including the like of the current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Major winners Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa among men.
Sahith Theegala, the most famous Indian American on the PGA Tour, who was in Top-30 of PGA Tour in 2022 and 31st in 2023, played regular USK Golf.
Among women stars the US Kids Golf alumnus includes the likes of Lexi Thompson, the latest Major winner among women, Allisen Corpuz, who won the Women’s US Open, and Alexa Pano, a recent winner on the Ladies PGA Tour.
