For India’s leading trio – Saptak Talwar, Veer Ahlawat and Yuvraj Sandhu, wearing India colours was a big thrill and a great achievement at the recent Asian Games at Aichi-Nagoya.
The Asian Games may have ended without a medal for India’s men’s golf team, but they returned with something which they appreciate a lot – the experience of competing under pressure in Japan against some of Asia’s best players, which also included the eventual winner Tom Kim, who has also been a PGA Tour winner and former Indian Open winner Keita Nakajima, who is soon bound for the PGA Tour.
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The Asian Games opportunity came at an important stage of their careers. All three now head into the DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club from October 15 to 18, with different stories. Yet they have something very valuable in common — recent exposure to high-level international golf.
At the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Talwar and Ahlawat finished tied sixth individually, and the Indian team was placed sixth. Sandhu was tied 24th.
That experience could prove particularly useful when they step into the much bigger arena of the DP World India Championship.
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The tournament is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and DP World PGTI and carries a US$ 4 million prize fund, the biggest for a DP World Tour event in India.
More importantly for the three Indians, it puts them in the same field as players such as Rory McIlroy, defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, Open champion Ryan Fox, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Patrick Reed, Luke Donald and PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai.
For Talwar, the progression has been particularly striking. The 27-year-old has been the most consistent Indian player on the DP World PGTI this season and leads the Order of Merit. He won the Indorama Ventures Open and has added a string of strong finishes, including second at DP World – PGTI Open, which was co-sanctioned with HotelPlanner Tour, and a third place at the Andhra Open.
He also had Top-10 finishes in J&K Open, Kolar and Chennai and a series of Top-15 finishes. Just before the Asian Games, he and Ahlawat shared third at the Bengaluru Open. He leads the DP World PGTI Order of Merit race by a big margin.
Talwar opened his Asian Games campaign with a four-under 66 to sit third, followed it with a 68 and eventually finished tied sixth as he closed with another 66. It was not just a good result for him; it was four rounds of learning what it feels like to carry the expectations of playing for India. He now arrives in Delhi with that confidence intact.
His experience of the HotelPlanner Tour this year will also hold him in good stead as he targets a good showing in Delhi and he aims to get to the DP World Tour next season.
Ahlawat’s journey has been equally encouraging. The 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion has had an excellent run through the year on the domestic season. He did not win, but finished Top-10 nine times – inside Top-5 seven times – in 12 starts. He had Top-10s third at the Telangana Open, the Telangana Golconda Masters, Chennai Open and Nava Raipur Open, before sharing third with Talwar at Bengaluru.
At the Asian Games, Ahlawat got better as the week progressed. After opening with 71 and following it with 68, he produced a five-under 65 in the third round to move into contention, and closed with 67 to finish alongside Talwar at nine-under 271.
For Ahlawat, that sequence matters. It showed he could recover from a slow start and play his best golf when the pressure increased and he too is armed with some experience of HotelPlanner Tour this year.
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Sandhu comes into Delhi with a different kind of international golf education. The 2025 PGTI Order of Merit winner earned promotion to the DP World Tour and has spent most of this season learning the demands of full-time golf in Europe.
His campaign has been difficult, but there was a significant breakthrough just before the Asian Games when he finished tied 13th at the FedEx Open de France with rounds of 67, 68, 69 and 69 for 11-under 273. It was his best DP World Tour result of the season. He then flew straight to Nagoya and had insufficient time to practice due to inclement weather, but soldiered on.
That result may be especially relevant to his DP World India Championship campaign. Sandhu has already seen first-hand the standard required on the DP World Tour. Now he gets another opportunity to test himself against that level, but on a course and in surroundings he knows much better.
And that is perhaps the biggest benefit the Asian Games experience offers all three.
The Delhi event will not feel like a domestic PGTI tournament. The pace, the depth of the field, the attention and the quality of the opposition will all be different. But Talwar, Ahlawat and Sandhu have just experienced something similar in Japan.
They have also arrived at this point through different routes — Talwar as the PGTI’s leading player, Ahlawat after a strong late-season surge, and Sandhu after taking his first full season on the DP World Tour. The DP World India Championship gives them another step up.
