The Dharan-based pro seeks sponsor to take part in Indian Tour events
KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 18
Nepali golfer Sukra Bahadur Rai earned a full card for the 2022 season of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in Ahmedabad today.
Rai produced the best card of the day, carding a four-under 68 in the final round to finish tied 13th with the 72-hole total of four-over 292. With the brilliant final round score, he moved 25 places up in the leaderboard to share the 13th position with five Indian golfers.
"I played well in the final round and I was able to finish inside the top 15," said Rai. "I cannot express my feelings in words as this is a dream come true for me. I was a little bit nervous after playing four-over 76 in the first round and it was a great relief for me after I made the cut," he said.
Rai became the first Nepali golfer to earn full card of PGTI after former top pro Shivaram Shrestha, who played a couple of seasons from 2010 in the Indian Tour. Nepali golfers started taking part in Indian Tour Q-School since 1997 with players like Radhe Shyam Thapa, Pashupati Sharma, Ramesh Nagarkoti, Deepak Thapa, Deepak Acharya, Toran Shahi and Shiva Ram Shrestha making it to the Tour in the past.
The Dharan-based pro, who had jumped 13 places up in the leaderboard after the third round, produced the best card of the day on his way to earning the full card in his first attempt.
He carded a total of six birdies in the final round.
He began the day with a bogey but carded birdies on the fourth and eighth holes before taking the turn at one-under 35. Rai carded a birdie on the 10th and dropped a shot on the 12th hole to maintain the one-under score for the day. He then carded three straight birdies from the 13th and saved pars on the last three holes to finish the back nine at three-under 33. He had played the rounds of 76, 75 and 73 on the first three days respectively.
After earning the full card, Rai is eligible to play in all the PGTI events and he will open the campaign with the Gujarat Open Golf Championship at the same venue from February 22- 25. He will also play the Glade One Masters at the Glade One Resort and Club, also in Ahmedabad.
Rai made it to the final stage of the PGTI Qualifying School after he finished tied ninth in the pre-qualifying tournament with the score of fourover 148 in 36-hole contest at the same course last week. Rai has already bagged three titles under Surya Nepal Golf Tour since turning pro after winning the team event gold medal in the 13th South Asian Games held on home soil in December 2019. Rai had won two events of the Tour as an amateur player.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 19, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
