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Vinay Kumar Yadav of Delhi won his maiden title after prevailing in a playoff against 15-year-old Arjunveer Shishir of Chandigarh at the Rs 25 lakh PGTI NexGen 2026 played at the Golden Greens Golf and Country Club in Gurugram.
Thirty-year-old Vinay Kumar Yadav (72-70-71), who was overnight tied fourth and three shots off the lead, carded a one-under 71 in round three to end the regulation 54 holes tied at the top of the leaderboard along with teenager Arjunveer Shishir (71-70-72) at a total of three-under 213. Fifteen-year-old rookie Arjunveer, the youngest player in the field who was overnight tied second and two shots off the lead, made his way to the top of the pack on day three courtesy of an even-par 72. Vinay Kumar Yadav finally went on to win on the second playoff hole (played on the Par-5 18th). Vinay's triumph saw him collect the prize money cheque worth Rs 3,17,875. Yadav thus moved into fourth position on the 2026 PGTI NexGen Order of Merit. Lakshya Nagar (72) and Siddharth Semwal (75), the overnight leader, finished tied third at two-under 214. The NexGen Tour was launched by the PGTI last year with the objective of providing equal playing opportunities to all Professional Golfers of India and to increase the bench strength in Indian golf, which in turn increases competition and the level of golf. The NexGen also aims to take professional golf to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, thus expanding the reach of the sport within the country. Vinay Kumar Yadav had a shaky start in round three with a couple of bogeys and a double-bogey on the front-nine, which negated his four birdies in the first half of the round. However, Vinay kept his composure with a solid back-nine where he made a solitary birdie on the 11 th to join Arjunveer Shishir in the playoff. Teenager Arjunveer made two birdies and two bogeys during his steady last round of 72. Both Vinay and Arjunveer made par on the first playoff hole (Par-5 18 th ), but on the second playoff hole, Vinay prevailed with some quality hitting and putting that helped him earn a par, even as Arjunveer found the bunker twice and the rough once to drop a bogey. Vinay said, "I'm delighted to have won my first professional title. I would like to thank my coach, Nonita Lal Qureshi for helping transform my game in such a short span of time since I started taking coaching from her from only November onwards last year. My putting improved massively over the past few months. I would also like to thank my father who kept encouraging me even when I was not performing well. "After an ordinary front-nine, I played with good focus and a cool mind as I knew that I could make the Par-5s count on the back-nine. That's exactly what I did on the 11th and during the playoff. In the playoff, I just wanted to find the fairway with my tee shot and the green in two shots. I managed to find the green in three shots on both occasions but the positive mindset helped me win. This victory gives me a lot of confidence for the main tour. "All aspects of my game came together this week. The fact that Golden Greens is a narrow track like my home course, Delhi Golf Club, also helped, as I'm used to playing on such a course where placing the ball holds the key. I used the driver on only one hole at Golden Greens."(ANI)
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