FOUR NEW CHAMPIONS IN FOUR WEEKS - A PGTI RECORD
Sign of growing depth of talent on the tour
A new PGTI record was set
when four new champions emerged
on the tour in four consecutive
tournaments – Viraj Madappa
(TAKE Solutions Masters 2018),
Aman Raj (Jaipur Open 2018
presented by Rajasthan Tourism),
Akshay Sharma (QA InfoTech Open
2018) and Tapy Ghai (Kensville
Open 2018 presented by PGTI).
The previous record was
three ¿ rst-time winners in three
consecutive events. This happened
on three occasions, twice during
the 2008 season and once during
the 2009 season. The last time it
happened was in 2009 when Vishal
Singh, Gaurav Pratap Singh and
Kunal Bhasin won their maiden
titles in successive weeks.
The 2018 PGTI season has so far
witnessed the rise of ¿ ve new faces
as champions (the four mentioned
above as well as Syed Saqib
Ahmed). The last time ¿ ve or more
new winners emerged on the tour
was in 2011 (6). This can be seenas
a sign of the growing depth of talent
and ¿ erce competition on the tour.
Viraj Madappa won the TAKE Solutions Masters 2018 Aman Raj won the Jaipur Open 2018 presented
by Rajasthan Tourism
Akshay Sharma won the QA InfoTech Open 2018 Tapy Ghai won the Kensville Open 2018 presented by PGTI
In 2018, all ¿ ve ¿ rst-time
winners have been Indians. The last
time there were ¿ ve or more new
Indian winners on the PGTI was in
2010 (6). This reÀ ects the upward
graph of Indian professional golf.
Another heartening feature of
this season’s ¿ rst time winners has
been that four out of the ¿ ve players
are in the 20 to 25 age group.This
augurs well for the future of Indian
golf.
70
GolfPlus
NOVEMBER
2018