DLF Academy trainee Kartik Singh has been named as a member of the upcoming Junior Presidents Cup that will follow the senior event in Montreal. Canada, next month along with 10 others, the PGA Tour, which created and runs the bi-annual event, said on Wednesday.
Kartik, 14, is currently the world number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for players 15 years and below and has a number of creditable international finishes against his name including wins in the Singapore Junior Open (Under-19) this year, the IMG Academy Junior World Championship in San Diego, and the Asian Junior Masters in Thailand for a third time earlier in the season.
He was sixth at the R&A Junior Open 2024 in Scotland, the youngest in the field at the US Junior Amateurs last year and in the field for the 2023 Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Melbourne, Australia, where he became the youngest to make the cut at the testing Royal Melbourne Golf Club and at 14, is India’s top-ranked amateur.
Singh is part of the team named by Internationals captain Graham DeLaet that will be led by China’s Xihuan Chang who tops the list of top 10 qualified players based on the WAGR at no. 37. Also on the team are two returning players from the 2022 squad, Rayhan Abdul Latief of Indonesia and Joshua Bai of New Zealand.
Eight countries make up the International team, with China, Vietnam and Thailand represented by two players each while DeLaet has selected Samuel Gonzalez of Colombia, as his captain’s pick, the PGA Tour said in a statement.
“I’m honoured to be the captain of this team and to have so many quality players to choose from for the captain’s pick,” DeLaet said. “There are so many deserving players and simply choosing the next player up, Samuel Gonzalez, seemed to be the most logical and fair way to go about it. I’m also excited to have a Quebec native, Antoine Jasmin, on our team. I’m confident that with the 10 automatic qualifiers we have, along with Samuel and the final spot to come in a few weeks, our team will be incredibly competitive. I look forward to meeting all 12 of these young men and sharing a week that I hope and believe will be very memorable for them!"
The 12th and final spot on the team will be awarded to the leading player on the WAGR list as of September 5, 2024, who is not otherwise qualified. In the event of a tie, the selection will be decided by the individual ranked highest on the most previous WAGR standing.
The Internationals: Xihuan Chang (China), Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam), Rayhan Abdul Latief (Indonesia), Thanawin Lee (Thailand), Joshua Bai (New Zealand), Kartik Singh (India), Le Khanh Hung (Vietnam), Liangliang Gu (China), Warut Boonrod (Thailand), Antoine Jasmin (Canada) and Samuel Gonzalez (Colombia).
Team USA: Miles Russell, Tyler Watts, Blades Brown, Pennson Badgett, Asher Vargas, Luke Colton, Will Hartman, Ronin Banerjee, Tyler Mawhinney, Jackson Byrd, Logan Reilly (captain’s pick).
The teams were announced by the Presidents Cup and the American Junior Golf Association. The fourth edition of the Junior Presidents Cup tees off on September 22 at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac – Blue Course in Montreal, four days before the 2024 Presidents Cup begins play at the nearby Royal Montreal Golf Club.
The Junior Presidents Cup is a two-day, team match-play competition featuring the top 24 junior boys, 19 years old and younger. The players make up the US and the International Team from around the world, excluding Europe. It was set up to give the world’s best non-European juniors an opportunity to compete in an international team match-play competition and showcase the global reach of junior golf.
USA, led by Charley Hoffman includes 2023 Rolex Junior Player of the Year and no. 1 Miles Russell of Florida, Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, 2023 team member Tyler Watts of Alabama, Jackson Byrd of Georgia, and Logan Reilly of Virginia, as the captain’s pick.
“Throughout this process of selecting the best juniors to represent the USA I wanted to look at a culmination of work,” Hoffman said in the statement. “He had one of the most consistent summers of golf out there and fell just short of an automatic bid. I am excited to welcome Logan Reilly to the US Junior Presidents Cup team.”