US Kids Golf Indian Championships: Pritish, Shambhavi adjudged overall winners; earn crucial WAGR points

Indians won most of the group titles with the exceptions being Rohin Patel (Boys 8) and Rayan Patel (Boys 10). Both Rohin and Rayan are from the United States.

In a competition dominated by local golfers, other international stars who did well were Shwaas Kurada of the US, who was second in Boys 12 and in Girls 11-12, Malaysia's Woo Kay-Lin was third as another Swedish player Mahi Srivastava was fourth.

Pritish shot the best round of the week with 6-under 66 on the first day and that helped him keep his lead through the week as he beat Arshvant Srivastava, whose valiant attempt fell short. Pritish totalled 3-under 213, the best total among those playing 18-hole rounds. He was also adjudged the overall winner with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points.

In the seniormost section, where WAGR points were on offer, Arshvant had two doubles and four other bogeys against five birdies for a 75 as Pritish played a steady round. It was his second under par round in three days with four birdies and two bogeys for a 70 that gave him a 3-under 213 total. Arshvant shot 5-over 221.

Shambhavi Chaturvedi earned WAGR points as she totalled 16-over for three days in Girls 13-14, which was one shot better than Girls 15-18 winner, Ayesha Gupta, who won with 17-over.

The most consistent performer of the week was young Nihal Cheema, who turned in three straight under-par rounds of 34-35-34 in his three nine-hole rounds for Boys 7 and under and he won by a big margin over his nearest rival, Shabd Agarwwal.

A fine come from behind win was from US golfer Rayan Patel (9-over), who rallied from four shots behind to win by one over Jot Sarup Gupta (10-over) in Boys 10. Jot Sarup led after the first two rounds, before losing because of three bogeys in the last five holes. Rayan had a very solid even par on the back nine.

Among girls, Ahana Shah was a consistent performer with 37-35-36 for even par total to finish ahead of second-placed Naasyha S Sinha, who dislodged Aahana Srivastava from the second place in Girls 8 section.

Naina Kapoor who opened the week with 2-under 70 had a big win over Aanya Dandriyal in Girls 11-12. Naina totalled 3-over.

Kabir Goyal in Boys 9 had two fine rounds of 1-under 71 each while winning his section over Sahib Aujla, second, and Divjot Gupta, third.

Siddhant Sharma, leader after two rounds stayed ahead to beat a charging Adit Veeramachaneni in Boys 11, as Smyaan Gupta kept Sohang Singh Kantor at bay by one shot to win in Boys 13-14.

Among other winners were Vidit Aggarwal in Boys 12, Aaradhya Bhatnagar in Girls 9-10 and Ayesha won the Girls 15-18 section.

Leading scores: after the third and final Round of the 2024 US Kids Golf Indian Championship:

Boys 7&U: 1. Nihal Cheema 34-35-34; 2. Shabd Agarwwal 48-50-55;

Boys 8: T-1. Rohin Patel (US) 46-38-40 2. Samar Singh 46-43-40;

Boys 9: 1. Kabir Goyal 71-74-71; 2. Sahib Aujla 75-75-74;

Boys 10: 1. Rayan Patel (US) 77-77-71; 2. Jot Sarup Gupta 71-79-76;

Boys 11: T-1. Siddhant Sharma 75-70-72; 2. Adit Veeramachaneni 76-71-73;

Boys 12: 1. Vidit Agarwal 78-80-85; 2, Shwaas Kurada 92-85-92;

Boys 13-14: 1. Smyaan Gupta 74-80-80; 2. Sohang Singh Kantor 78-79-78;

Boys 15-18: 1. Pritish Singh Karayat 66-77-70; 2. Arshvant Srivastava 74-72-75 Girls 8 & U: 1. Ahana Shah 37-35-36; 2. Naaysha S Sinha 41-36-36

Girls 9-10: 1. Aaradhya Bhatnagar 92-86-85; 2. Aaliyah Kalra 94-88-84;

Girls 11-12: 1. Naina Kapoor 70-75-74; Aanya Dandriyal 81-78-84;

Girls 13-14: 1. Shambhavi Chaturvedi 75-79-78; 2. Kriti Parekh 80-79-80

Girls 15-18: 1. Ayesha Gupta 80-72-81; 2. Nayonika Kapoor 85-92-85. (ANI)