Day one co-leader Santosh Kumar in action at the NexGen Tour season-opener in Faridabad on Tuesday. Image courtesy DP World PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Aditya Raj Singh Chahal, Vipin Raghuvanshi and Santosh Kumar shared the lead after round one of the DP World PGTI NexGen event in Faridabad on Tuesday.
The three all returned scores of 3 under par 69 at the Aravalli Golf Club at the series season-opener, the DP World PGTI said.
Ramesh Kumar, Divesh Rana, Lakshya Nagar and Pranav Kaul were one shot off the lead in shared fourth place.
Chahal carded an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys while Raghuvanshi had an eagle, two birdies and a bogey.
Santosh Kumar drained an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys at the Rs 25 lakh event.
The 54-hole event features a field of 72 with the top 35 and ties making the cut at the end of round two on Wednesday.
The NexGen Tour was launched last year to provide equal playing opportunities to professional golfers of India and to increase the bench strength in Indian golf.
Spreading wide
The series also aims to take professional golf to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to expand the reach of the sport within the country.
The prize purse for each NexGen event has been increased from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh this season.
Participants at the 2026 DP World PGTI Qualifying School are eligible to play on the NexGen Tour in 2026.
The winner of this year’s NexGen Order of Merit will earn an exemption on the main tour (DP World PGTI) for the 2027 season.
The second NexGen event presented by R.S. Gill will be played from March 3 to 5 at the Ranjitgarh Golf Club in Phillaur.
The next three events are at Lucknow Golf Club (March 10 to 12), Golden Greens Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon (March 17 to 19) and Patna Golf Club (March 24 to 26).
“After the grand success of the DP World PGTI NexGen in 2025, we are excited about the 2026 NexGen season,” said Tour CEO Amandeep Johl.
“The competition is expected to be more intense as there is an extremely talented crop of young golfers who have come through the DP World PGTI Qualifying School this year.
“The enhanced prize purse is an added incentive. The NexGen series is a part of our president Kapil Dev’s vision of spreading the game to all parts of the country especially the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.”
Also read: Om Prakash Chouhan wins it with a late flourish at the Tolly
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