History of Indian Golf

This is the forum for general golf info and queries and comments.

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
BSharma
Authors
Authors
Posts: 12076
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:51 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: USA

History of Indian Golf

Post by BSharma »

Ajay suggested that we should gather information about the history of Indian golf. After collecting some information about Indian golf I stumbled upon a website that details the history of Indian golf. Here it is and enjoy reading it.

History of Indian Golf

Some interesting facts compiled from the above link and other sources:

The history of golf in India can be divided into 4 phases:

1. White Man's Sport until 1947
2. Old Man's Game until 1980
3. Rich Man's Pastime until 1990
4. Emergence of Indian professional golf players in 1990's

- Royal Calcutta Golf Course was the first golf course established outside the British Isles in 1829.

- The First All-India Amateur Championship was staged in 1892. The first Indian to make an impression was the legendary I.S. Malik, who finished runner-up in 1945, '47 and '48. Mohinder Bal became the first Indian to win it in 1949.

- The First Ladies All-India Amateur Championship was started in 1906.

- Formation of the Indian Golf Union (IGU) in 1955.

- The First Indian Open was held in 1964. Australian golfer, Peter Thomson, five-time winner of the British Open, became the first winner of this prestigious event. In 1965 PG (Billoo) Sethi swelled every Indian hearts with pride when he beat a strong foreign challenge, including Thomson, to win the title as an amateur.

- Ruda Valji and Shadi Lal were invited to participate in the World Cup Qualifying event at Singapore in 1969.

- The Indian Open joined the Asian Golf Circuit in 1970.

- Mrs NM Desai became the first Indian to win the Ladies All-India Amateurs in 1970.

- Raj Kumar Pitamber, Vikramjit Singh, Alan Singh and Lakshman Singh combined to win the Nomura Cup at Jakarta, Indonesia to be crowned Asia-Pacific Golf champions in 1977.

- Lakshman Singh, Rajeev Mohta, Rishi Narain and Amit Luthra won the gold medal in team golf at the IX Asian Games in Delhi.

- Lakshman Singh and Rajeev Mohta won the gold and silver medals respectively in men's golf at the IX Asian Games in Delhi.

- Ali Sher, a former caddie at the Delhi Golf Club, won the Indian Open in 1991 and then repeated his act in 1993, and golf started getting respectable space in the sports pages of Indian media and hearts of fans.

- Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI) was formed in 1994 and replaced the Indian Golf Union.

- PGAI became the first sports governing body in India to take the revolutionary step of handing over the management and marketing rights to a professional sports management company in 1997.

- Emergence of true professional golf players in India - Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal, Mukesh Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Arjun Singh, Vijay Kumar, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Gaurav Ghei, Feroz Ali, Amandeep Johl, Harmeet Khalon, etc.

- Golfers of Indian descent but hailing from other countries (Vijay Singh and Dinesh Chand from Fiji and Daniel Chopra from Sweden) make name for themselves in professional golf. Vijay Singh wins PGA events.

- Smriti Mehra becomes the first Indian golfer to play in LPGA in 1997.


- Gaurav Ghei becomes first Indian to play a major when he qualified for British Open in 1997 after shooting a two-day score of 135 to finish second in his qualifying venue and earn a place in the starting line-up at Royal Troon.

- Later Jyoti Randhawa became second Indian to qualify at the British Open.

- Jeev Milka Singh is the first Indian to qualify at the US Open.

- Shiv Kapur wins the gold medal in men's golf at Busan Asian Games in 2002.

- Jyoti Randhawa gets a direct entry at the British Open in 2003.

- Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal become the first Indian golfers to compete at the 2003 World Golf Championship-American Express Championship in Atlanta, USA.

- Arjun Atwal becomes the first player in Asian PGA to win over US$ 1 million.

- Digvijay Singh and Gaurav Ghei by their joint-second place finish at the Nations Cup in Singapore qualify to play at World Cup at Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Nov 11-16, 2003).

- Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra (Indo-Swedish) earn the US PGA Tour card for 2004 via the final qualifying tournament in 2003.

- Arjun Atwal wins the Asian PGA Order of Merit for 2003.

In 1990, there were approximately 140 golf courses in India; by 2002 there were over 200 golf courses, including several designer courses bearing signatures of such great names as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Robert Trent Jones Jr.


I hope this link does not disappear one day because it has detailed the history of Indian golf very well.
Last edited by BSharma on Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
ajay
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 5855
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2003 11:54 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: College Station, TX

History of Indian Golf

Post by ajay »

Thanks Bhushan. I'm glad you found a good link that gives a good history about Indian Golf. As you wished, I also wish that this site won't go away. This piece covers the history right upto the modern times when Jeev, Arjun and Jyoti took over. It was a nice reading and for any one interested in Indian golf . But we still need to summarize the recent achivements. Fortunately, that won't be too difficult as all the recent happenings are well recorded on the internet.

I think Indian Golf is heading in right direction with a nice professional structure and a domestic tour in place that gives opportunity for young golfers.
User avatar
BSharma
Authors
Authors
Posts: 12076
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:51 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: USA

History of Indian Golf

Post by BSharma »

If any forum member knows of some achievements of Indian golfers that I have not listed, please post them in this thread and I will add them to the list. If you find an error then let me know also. Ajay, you must be having the recent achievements of Indian golfers at Asian PGA, Japan PGA, European PGA and US PGA, and can you post them in this thread so I can add them.

Thanks.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

History of Indian Golf

Post by jayakris »

Here is an article on PGAI';s tie-up with Tiger Sports Marketing, which was historic.

From Indian Express (or Sunday Standard or whatever they call the Sunday edition):

Watch the Birdie

Interesting. I remember V.Krishnaswamy, Senior Sports editor/ correspondent of Indian Express telling me in 1997 that Golf would be the next big thing in India. And it has been going that way.

Jay
User avatar
BSharma
Authors
Authors
Posts: 12076
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 8:51 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: USA

History of Indian Golf

Post by BSharma »

Thanks Jay for providing an informative article. When I was collecting data about the history of golf, the tie up with a sports management agency was an interesting development that I noted.

"PGAI became the first sports governing body in India to take the revolutionary step of handing over the management and marketing rights to a professional sports management company in 1997."

I believe that Indian golfers will shine brightly at the top level in the next 5 to 10 years. Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atawal, Jyoti Randhawa, Smriti Mehra, etc have paved the way for young Indian golfers to get to the top tier.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

History of Indian Golf

Post by jayakris »

Yes, Bhushan, I had seen that line you had in there. Strangely I had not seen much written on the management company in the press. They seem to have been under the radar and just doing their job. I posted the above link in this thread basically because you had mentioned it above!

Jay
User avatar
ajay
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 5855
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2003 11:54 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: College Station, TX

History of Indian Golf

Post by ajay »

I saw some information on history of golf that says

"1820
The first golf course outside of Britain is opened in Bangalore, India."


source
http://www.golf.about.com/cs/historyofg ... 180050.htm

This precedes Royal Calcutta Golf Course established in 1829
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

History of Indian Golf

Post by jayakris »

Really??? .. Never knew that! .. Nobdody ever used this to market the golf course or bring in some tourists? -- The same gold course is still there, I assume?

Jay
kathiresan_v
Member
Member
Posts: 506
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2003 9:48 am
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Malaysia

History of Indian Golf

Post by kathiresan_v »

dunno, I am posting this on the right topic or not...

Here is an article from San Francisco Chronocle's delhi correspondent says, Golf begins to overtake cricket in India

but, I am pretty sure this one won't happen so soon!!!

Kathir
gvhvhg
Member
Member
Posts: 4513
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 5:39 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: NYC/Medford, MA

History of Indian Golf

Post by gvhvhg »

has an indian ever won a PGA tournament?
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

History of Indian Golf

Post by PKBasu »

Not yet, but lots of guys getting close this year. Daniel Chopra and/or Arjun Atwal should win one soon (probably within the next 12 months). Atwal has won two titles on the European PGA tour.
User avatar
India1989
Member
Member
Posts: 1247
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:25 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Canada

History of Indian Golf

Post by India1989 »

Nice topic. It was nice to hear about history of Indian golf. It is so cool.

I hope it overtakes cricket. Cricket has dominated Indian sports for too long.
ngentot
Member
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:43 am

Re: History of Indian Golf

Post by ngentot »

what a nice story....

greatt  :D
User avatar
ajay
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 5855
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2003 11:54 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: College Station, TX

INDIANS AT MAJORS

Post by ajay »

Here is the round up for Indians performance in Majors.  Since 2002 the Indians have been there in one or other major. Jyoti has played 4 majors but made cut only once. He also has the best finish in majors so far
(Note: Daniel is missing here)
INDIANS AT MAJORS
1997 Gaurav Ghei British Open MC
2000 Jyoti Randhawa British Open MC
2002 Jeev Milkha Singh U.S. Open Tied 62nd 
2003 Jyoti Randhawa British Open MC
2004 Jyoti Randhawa British Open Tied 27th 
2004 Arjun Atwal British Open MC 
2005 Arjun Atwal PGA Championship MC
2006 Jyoti Randhawa U.S. Open MC
2006 Jeev Milkha Singh U.S. Open Tied 59th 
2006 Shiv Kapur British Open MC 
2007 Jeev Milkha Singh Masters Tied 37th
2007 Jeev Milkha Singh US Open Tied 36th

Summary: 4 Majors- Jyoti Randhawa, Jeev M Singh, 3-Daniel Chopra, 2-Arjun Atwal, 1-Gaurav Ghei, Shiv Kapur

» Gaurav Ghei was the first Indian to play a major-the British Open in 1997
» With Singh's appearance at the Masters, Indians have now figured in each of the four majors
» Singh was the first Indian to make a cut at a major-at the U.S. Open in 2002


Edit: Here is Daniel Chopra's record

2004 U.S. Open Championship T24 $63,328.00
2005 British Open MC
2006 PGA Championship T41 $23,080.00
Last edited by ajay on Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
usaindian
Member
Member
Posts: 1934
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 12:30 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Boston,MA

Re: History of Indian Golf

Post by usaindian »

may be we should also list put list of indian players win  on asian tour and european tour and in future for PGA tour
Post Reply