Indian golf on the right track with power packed performance of Rashid Khan and SSP Chowrasia

By Rishi Narain
While fans across India read that 23 year old Delhi professional golfer Rashid Khan scored a win on Sunday at the US$750,000 ChiangMai Classic in Thailand, few are aware of his US$135,000 (Rs 80 lac approx) winner’s cheque ! Also that Rashid had to overcome the challenge of 150 professional players from around 24 different nationalities to win this official Asian Professional Tour title.

These facts along with the fact that this victory catapulted Rashid close to the top 200 in the world rankings ( he is now #204) making him the 2nd highest ranked Indian golfer after Bangalore’s 26 year old Anirban Lahiri who is currently ranked 75th.

Rashid’s victory followed last week’s win by Kolkata’s SSP Chowrasia at the US$300,000 Panasonic Open in Delhi and since in Delhi another Kolkata pro Rahil Gangjee finished second while in Thailand, Gurgaon’s 42 year old veteran Jyoti Randhawa took the runner up spot, it marks the first time in Asian Tour history that Indians have scored 1-2 finishes in successive weeks ! No easy feat !

These two weeks have vaulted 3 Indians in the top 10 of the Asian rankings again – Anirban Lahiri at 2nd with US$521,000 in prize money, Rashid Khan at 8th with US$232,000 and SSP Chowrasia at 9th with US$ 217,000 in winnings. In 2013, also three Indians were in the top 10 in the final Asian rankings – Lahiri (3rd), Bhullar (5th) and Shiv Kapur (10th).

It’s good to see Indians performing at their peak with the end of the season approaching when there is a concentration of big prize money events totalling over US$ 3 million (Rs 18.5 crores approx) scheduled over the next 5 weeks.

And the good form continues this week as Anirban is at the European Tour’s final 2015 qualifying tournament where he needs to finish among the top 25 of the initial starting field of over 1000 golfers to earn full playing rights on the European Tour next season. After two rounds of the gruelling six round qualifying tournament, Anirban is on top at #1 with superb rounds of 65 and 68 for a total of 133 or 9 under par.

The other Indian at Barcelona also trying to regain his European Tour playing rights is last week’s winner SSP Chowrasia who has had a slower start with rounds of 72 and 71 to lie only 73nd.

However with four more days to go, SSP who has been runner up at the Indian Open three times in his career (including 2013) is still well within his capabilities to finish among the top 25 and be back as a European Tour regular next season.

Getting back on the European Tour is so vital to a players’ development because of the much higher prize money, world ranking points and competition levels than on the Asian Tour. It’s the next logical step after success in Asia and eventually of course both Lahiri and SSP will aim to qualify for the US PGA Tour – the ultimate ambition of every professional golfer.

However currently with 4 of the worlds’ top 7 ranked players originating from Europe – golf on the European Tour is at its strongest ever.

36 year old SSP Chowrasia is in fact no stranger to the European Tour. He first qualified to play in Europe with a stunning win at the 2008 Indian Masters in Delhi and then again at the 2011 Avantha Masters in Gurgaon. Both those wins put him in Europe from 2008 all the way through the end of 2013. This year has been one of consolidation as he has been playing mostly in Asia and with 5 finishes in the top 10 in Asia and one 9th place finish in Denmark – a fair degree of consistency and success.

After investing so much time and effort in Europe, he is comfortable with the courses and playing conditions there and years to earn a spot to walk the fairways alongside the biggest names in the game, once again. Based on these performances, Indian golf seems to be on the right track once again and with a power packed schedule till the end of the year, we will be watching the progress of our young guns and veterans closely.

(Rishi Narain is a former Asian Games Gold medallist)