E-Paper
Pune’s Shlok Jain bags priority status eligibility for US Kids Golf Europe events
32 Indian youth bag Priority Status eligibility for various events
City-based youngster Shlok Jain has made us all proud by qualifying among the 32 kids shortlisted in various age-groups competitions conducted under the global banner of the US kids golf.
Those shortlisted comprise of 20 boys and 12 girls, who are eligible with ‘priority status’ for US kids global events in Europe and some of them will also be eligible for world championships, depending on their status.
US-born Shlok earned his right in the boys under-12 section accumulating maximum points during his run in the US kids golf India tour.
The ninth-grader of Blue Ridge High School, Hinjewadi won four titles at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune.
Shlok’s effort earned him the second-best ‘priority status’ – Burgundy – among the five categories that the kids are categorised. As a result, Shlok along with 12 others will be eligible for the US kids world championship to be played at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina from July 25 to 27.
Thrilled by his qualification, Shlok said; “I would like to thank my dad who supports me a lot and my school with his help I perform well. I believe one must be always humble either in victory or defeat.”
The five categories of ‘priority status’ include; Platinum (highest), Burgundy, Green, Orange, Blue (lowest).
A lot of youngsters who achieved ‘priority status’ this season will be playing in Europe for the first time, adding to their experience of playing in quality courses in India, Asia and now in Europe.
This year the European segment of US kids will see the players practice and play at courses like the Renaissance, Gullane, Craigelaw, Archerfield Links and others.
Rajesh Srivastava, president, the US kids India, said, “Our main aim is to get these youngsters ready for bigger challenges as they grow in the sport and get them to play where the world’s best compete like Gullane, Renaissance who have hosted the Rolex series events like Scottish Open on European Tour.”
Each age group’s competition is held at a different venue and all the events are scheduled for the last week of May.
What is ‘priority status’?
All players participating in US kids golf events have the opportunity to earn ‘priority status’ -- a qualification system that determines when players receive invitations for multi-day events.
Players can have multiple levels of status, each level with its own expiration date.
Each player must meet the scoring requirement for their respective age group for which the ‘priority status’ expires after one year.
Five different levels:
There are five levels in order: Platinum (highest), Burgundy, Green, Orange, Blue (lowest).
How does it work?
After the conclusion of a local tour season or multi-day event, priority status will be awarded to players within 1-2 weeks and to earn priority status from a local tour, a player must fulfil all three below mentioned requirements:
1. Play at least four events on one Local Tour season
2. Meet scoring requirements at least twice in the same Local Tour season
3. Finish in Top-5 or 6 in the season’s final points standings.
Players achieving priority status:
Boys: under-6: Priaan Kantawala (Burgundy)
under-7: Darshit Chaurasia (Orange); Chaitanya Pandey (Burgundy); Sao Rayan (Orange)
under-8: Mudit Agarwal (Orange); Sohang Har Kantor (Burgundy);
Under-9: Ayan Dubey (Orange); Jay Handa (Blue); Bhavesh Nirwan (Burgundy); Arshvant Srivastava (Orange)
under-10: Prashant Agarwal (Burgundy); Aditya Khaitan (Orange); Udai Aditya Middha (Orange); Ranveer Mitroo (Blue)
under-12: Shlok Jain (Burgundy);
13-14 yrs: Jai Bahl (Orange); Anshul Bhatiya (Blue); Garv Lakhmani (Blue); Ramayush Ray (Burgundy)
5-18 yrs: Kaushal Bagrodia (Burgundy); Joysurjo Dey (Orange)
Girls: under-7: Anushka Gupta (Orange); Naina Kapoor (Burgundy).
8-9 yrs: Shambhavi Chaturvedi (Blue); Ayesha Gupta (Orange); Rhea Kumar (Burgundy); Parnika Sharma (Orange).
10-11 yrs: Prarthana (Orange); Serena Khanna (Burgundy); Palakshi Sehrawat (Orange);
12-14 yrs: Ragini Navet (Burgundy)
15-18 yrs: Serena Vikram Singh (Burgundy).
