It is that time of the year when there is a buzz among junior golfers.
The city qualifers of the Shubhankar Sharma Invitational are the flavour of the season, and the endeavour across ranks is to figure in the list of qualifiers, play the national final and perform well enough to make the coveted trip to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January 2025.
Related: Low scores light up Shubhankar Sharma Invitational qualifier
The AF Training and Sports Complex in Gurgaon was the setting of City Qualifier 2 earlier this month, and the par-68 course witnessed Pushan Ganguly (71) and Aaron Sengar (72) mark their names as qualifiers from Category A Boys.
Among A girls, Saisha Bhambri (77) and Ananya Khosla (79) made the next grade.
It was a keenly contested round in B Boys, and Hriday Rialch (76) edged out Rao Vardhan by a shot to take the top spot among qualifiers from this group. Nyra Singh (79) and Kashika Senthil (84) bagged the top honours in B Girls as the qualifiers.
Category C Boys threw up three qualifiers after Zorawar Sandhu topped with a 72, and there was a tie for the second qualifier spot between Sakshit Purandere and Raajvir Surri at 77.
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Naina Kapoor and Smira Bhambri made it a close affair in C Girls before Naina prevailed by a shot at 72.
Hridaan Saraogi emerged the top name to qualify fron Category C Boys with a score of 69. There was a tie for the second spot, and both Shouryaveer Narain and Avviraaj Narain qualified with a score of 71.
Category E and Amateur Men were not in reckoning for qualifier spots, but there was pride and glory to play for.
Taanush Kumar won E Boys with a competitive score of 2-over 35 over nine holes, and was followed by Dhanya Deswal and Shabd Aggarwal at 42.
Naaysha Sinha (39) and Ahana Shrivastava (40) were the top names in E Girls.
With a score of 3-over 71, Pramod was the easy winner in Amateur Men.
Ambala qualifier attracts big numbers
With an eye on the national final later in the year, KEPTA, Ambala, the venue of City Qualifier 1 in end-March, evoked a lot of interest, and hence the impressive turnout.
The scores were competitive, and in Category A Boys, Ansh Dhingra took the top spot with a 75 at the par-72 course. Four shots back was Samarpratap Sandhu and together the duo completed the qualifiers.
Among A Girls, Bhavya Mann (78) and Amreen Sandhu (82) readied themselves for the leap of faith in Dubai by qualifying for the national final.
Nischay Bakshi missed out on a level-par score by a shot, but his effort was good enough to give him the top spot in B Boys. He was followed by Deeyon Sian Pai at 76.
Precious Bansal and Gauri Sharma qualified from B Girls with scores of 81 and 87, respectively.
In C Girls, Deepika Tomar and Padam Vibhuti sealed their spots in the national final, while Zorawar Sandhu, who topped the Gurgaon qualifier, was the top name with a score of 83. Pradyumna Upadhyaya was the other name to qualify from C Boys.
Siddhant Sharma stood out with the only under-par score of the KEPTA qualifier, a 3-under 69, in D Boys, and was followed by Sohraab Singh Talar at level-par. Aarushi Sharma topped D Girls.
The Amateur Men’s top prize went to Nikhil (77), and he was followed by Parmod Kumar (79).
In E Boys, Zorawar Singh Chahal shot even-par over 9 holes to finish with a 34. Tansh Bansal (38) and Gitansh Pathania (39) followed.
In E Girls, Gairat Kahlon, Manasvi Kanwar and Mahira Sharma completed the podium.
