New Delhi: Around this time last year, Shubham Jaglan was still an amateur trying to build his golf career at the University of South Florida. Things have progressed at breakneck pace since then. Since turning professional last July, Jaglan played in the third-tier PGA Americas —pathway to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour and the final stage of the PGA Tour Q-School —where he made the cut thrice in nine outings, finishing tied third at the BioSteel Championship.
Having assessed his game there, the 20-year-old, who dreams of playing on the PGA Tour, returned to India last year to play in the domestic Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the Asian Tour. While “playing at the highest level” remains his ultimate goal, Jaglan’s PGA dream has taken a backseat for now.
“I want to put my learnings from PGA Americas to use on the PGTI this season and also play on the Asian Tour. The level of the Asian Tour is definitely higher than what I’d get on PGA Americas, which is why I wanted to give it a go. And since I had to play the Asian Tour, it made more sense to come back and play the PGTI simultaneously.
“That said, I have learned a lot on PGA Americas and I’d like to put them to good use here. I had never played for 4-5 consecutive weeks before, being on that tour taught me that. The courses are tough, competition tougher. The golf is of very high quality which forces you to up your game. I missed 3-4 cuts in a row over there. You’re away from home and you have another tournament the next week. It makes you tougher. The PGTI competition is very good too.”
{{/usCountry}}“That said, I have learned a lot on PGA Americas and I’d like to put them to good use here. I had never played for 4-5 consecutive weeks before, being on that tour taught me that. The courses are tough, competition tougher. The golf is of very high quality which forces you to up your game. I missed 3-4 cuts in a row over there. You’re away from home and you have another tournament the next week. It makes you tougher. The PGTI competition is very good too.”
{{/usCountry}}The golfer from Panipat competed in three PGTI events late last year, finishing second in two of them, including the season-ending Tata Open. He then entered the Asian Tour Q-School and earned a full season card by virtue of a 34th-place finish. The top 35 finishers on the Q School are eligible for the season’s card. The other Indians who made it are Shaurya Bhattacharya (2nd), Rashid Khan (15th), and Ajeetesh Sandhu (20th). Last month, Jaglan won the DP World PGTI Qualifying School by a five-shot margin to earn a full card for the season.
“I feel Asian Tour will an important step-up. It’s still early in the season but I’ll aim to top the PGTI Order of Merit and get a year’s card for the European Tour,” Jaglan said.
The youngster is currently competing in 72 The League, PGTI’s franchise-based league which started on Tuesday. The six-team league, adopting the match play format, is being played across three venues in Delhi-NCR.
Jaglan was the second highest buy at the auction, going to Hyderabad-based Charminar Champions for ₹19 lakh, from a base price of ₹3 lakh.
“Big money does bring added responsibility. I guess I have done something good to deserve it, although I also attribute it to auction dynamics,” he said.