Teen golf prodigy Kartik Singh makes waves at International Series India as Niemann stays ahead

National champion Kartik Singh made the cut at one of the strongest professional men’s golf tournaments held in India at the International Series event presented by DLF at his home course with a 1 under par 71 on February 1. 

The 15-year-old will remember the day for a long time, signing autographs for fellow teenagers and other fans after finishing his round and having had a hit at the driving range earlier in the week alongside one of his idols, Bryson DeChambeau. 

Fog and haze continued to plague the $2 million elevated event on the Asian Tour schedule and the halfway stage of the tournament was completed late on the third afternoon with 72 going through to the money rounds. The cut was applied at 8 over 152 with 10 of the 15 Indian starters surviving the guillotine. 

In a bid to make up for the lost time, tournament officials switched to a shotgun start for the final two days, but with third-round action getting underway late in the afternoon, only a part of the final 36 holes have been completed with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann continuing to lead the way by a stroke from Kazuki Higa of Japan. 

When the evening hooter sounded, Niemann (70-68) was 7 under for the event with Higa (69-71) hard on his heels. Bryson DeChambeau was 1 under for the tournament while Anirban Lahiri made a horror start to his third round to sit on a 3 over score. 

Making the most of the opportunity was their fellow Crushers GC member Paul Casey who squeaked through in the bubble but turned up the heat with two eagles and as many birdies to go shooting up the leaderboard into a provisional share of 19th place from tied 64th. 

The story of the day though was Kartik Singh, son of an Indian Navy officer, who totalled 4 over 148 in tied 30th place to become the youngest player from the sub-continent to make an Asian Tour event cut. 

Having played one Asian Development Tour event previously this was Singh’s second appearance in a professional tournament, with a field that he could have only dreamed of, featuring the likes of two-time Major winner DeChambeau, home favourite Lahiri and a host of other LIV Golf stars. The world no. 1 Under-15 amateur admitted that familiarity with the course had helped.

“It feels unreal playing with Bryson, because normally I'm looking at him on TV, and here I'm playing with him in the same tournament, so it's a great experience. This is my home course, so I definitely have that advantage and then I know if my game is at that level and if I play my game, I'm able to compete with the pros. The experience was very good today. I played quite well. I was four under after 11 holes, but it's okay," Singh said. 

“I mean, I'm still happy with one under par on this course. Yesterday was not that good, but I'm still happy that I was able to make the cut with the likes of Bryson, Anirban and Neimann, and hopefully, I can play well this weekend. “It’s a new experience for me. I’m normally just used to playing alone. No one cares normally in the amateur tournaments. But having the fans here, it’s motivating and it feels good,” he added.