DLF Women's Indian Open signals Phenomenal Rise of Women's Professional Golf in India
The DLF Women's Indian Open, now in its second year, is the ultimate proof of the success of women's Professional golf in India. From a sport that for many years, had just one full-time professional - Simi Mehra, who played in the world-class Ladies PGA Tour in the United States - it has grown into a full-fledged circuit boasting of eight events of 3-4 days each and is still growing. With nearly Rs. 2 crores in prize money from various international and domestic events, golf has suddenly become the richest women's sport in India.
Tweet-- The DLF Women’s Indian Open, now in its second year, is the ultimate proof of the success of women’s Professional golf in India. From a sport that for many years, had just one full-time professional – Simi Mehra, who played in the world-class Ladies PGA Tour in the United States – it has grown into a full-fledged circuit boasting of eight events of 3-4 days each and is still growing. With nearly Rs. 2 crores in prize money from various international and domestic events, golf has suddenly become the richest women’s sport in India.
The flagship event of the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI), the body instrumental for the growth of women’s pro golf, the DLF Women’s Indian Open has grown in stature as one of the premier events on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT). Carrying a purse of US $ 120,000, it attracts the best lady professional players from Asia.
To put the purse in perspective, the men’s Indian Open did not exceed a purse of US $ 120,000 for over two decades, but the women’s Indian Open has touched the figure in its second year.
“Indian women’s golf has shown phenomenal growth in so short a time. From scratch we have a full-fledged women’s domestic tour and now with international events like DLF Women’s Indian Open and Ladies Masters, there are ample opportunities for our golfers,” said Mrs. Kavita Singh, Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the DLF Women’s Indian Open.
“I see a lot of youngsters coming up and taking to the sport. With big events like the DLF Women’s Indian Open taking place regularly, they will be encouraged to take to the sport more seriously and make a career from playing the game,” she added.
Mr. Satish Tandon, President of the WGAI, “We are grateful to DLF for their recommitment as the title sponsors. It is with the support of sponsors like DLF that women’s golf has reached this position so quickly and is set to continue to grow in India. We thank DLF for their three year commitment to the DLF Womens Indian Open and to the DLF Women’s Professional Tour”
“I am also happy to note the growing strength of the field with professionals from Europe and Japan showing interest and we also have promising Indian youngsters playing in the tournament”, he added.
The success of India’s men in International professional golf may have acted as the catalyst in the growth of professional women's golf in India, but there is no denying that the tour’s growth has been phenomenal in approximately two years since the start of the tour by WGAI.
From, scratch, the Women’s Golf Association of India has grown to twelve events with a minimum purse of Rs. 1.5 lakhs for each of them.
Even as the domestic Tour is taking baby steps, International Women’s Golf too has arrived into India.
From the time Champika Sayal and her WGAI team worked to get a Skins Event with an International Star cast, India now has not only a strong domestic circuit but also two world class international events.
The growing interest was seen amply when the Ladies European Tour chose India as its venue for the Indian Masters in Bangalore in December 2007. The 200,000 Euro event saw the best of European women golfers come to India.
And now the same can be seen in US $ 120,000 DLF Women’s Indian Open. The WGAI’s plans received early backing from Mrs Kavita Singh of DLF – so that the dream of creating world class lady players from India quickly took shape with a three year corporate commitment of DLF for the domestic tour and the flagship DLF Womens Indian Open.
While US based Simi Mehra has been the star player helping the Tour grow, others like Irina Brar, who represented India at the World Cup last week alongside Simi, have also been a huge success. The fact that India was among the 18 countries invited for the World Cup in South Africa was proof that Indian women have been noticed internationally in a sport that was hardly popular in India two seasons ago.
Anjali Chopra, Parnita Grewal, Nitika Jadeja, Sanam Merchant, Pragya Mishra, Shalini Malik, Nonita Lall Qureshi, Seema Sobti, Sanniya Sharma, Urvashi Sodhi and Nalini Singh have been the other ladies who have joined the professional ranks.
In the years to come, there’s much more to come as youngsters like 15 yr old Tanya Wadhwa, who has learnt and honed her golf skills in the US, 19 yr old reigning All India Amateur Champion Meghna Bal, also studying in the US, are showing great promise.
Youngsters Sharmila Nicollet, Shweta Galonde and Vaishavi Sinha who with Meghna wore Indian colours at Doha Asian Games and a host of other youngsters including Shweta Galande, Shruti Naik and Mehar Atwal have all shown great promise. They are the future that Women’s Professional golf in India can look forward to.
The SponsorsDLF Universal Ltd return as the title sponsors, while Platinum Sponsors for the 2nd yr running are AIS and Avantha Corporation. "The DLF Women’s Indian Open is one of India’s major Championship golf tournaments for women. Tournaments like this will help raise the bar and enable women golfers to compete and play professionally in India and overseas. Avantha supports such landmark initiatives and I wish the players the very best,” said Mr. Gautam Thapar, Chairman Avantha Group.
DLF Golf and Country Club will for the 2nd yr be the host venue and the course will be in top condition following the European Men’s Tour event to test the top Asian players.
The Gold Sponsors are Mercedes Benz for the 2nd year, while Crystallized Swarovski Elements are Silver Sponsors again and have designed all the trophies which symbolize the quality, stature and glamour of the tournament. Several other sponsors have shown interest in the tournament and are expected to announce their association in the coming weeks.