Karandeep during the final round
The Asian Development Tour’s two-week “Morocco Rising Stars – Marrakech” swing teed off last week from June 19–22 at the Samanah Golf Club. 26-year-old Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh produced a faultless final-round 65 to clinch second place, one shot shy of the title.
Kochhar, playing only his second ADT event of the year—having missed the cut at the PKNS Selangor Masters in January—carded rounds of 70-67-69-65 for a 17-under 271 total. His bogey-free 7-under 65 on the final day catapulted him into solo second behind the winner, 21-year-old Filipino Aidric Chan, who finished at 18-under 270.
Kochhar now leaps to 10th in the ADT Rankings, strongly positioned for a top-10 finish that can secure him an Asian Tour membership card for the 2026 season. Kochhar is known as the youngest-ever winner on the PGTI and the first amateur to win, when he won in India in 2016 at just 17 years and 5 months, breaking Shubhankar Sharma’s previous record.
Kochhar was among eight Indian professionals in the field, six of whom made the cut:
- Former Asian Tour winner Ajeetesh Sandhu made his first ADT start of the year with a Tied-13th finish at 12-under 276.
- Khalin Joshi of Bangalore, coming off a Top 10 in his previous ADT start, ended Tied-34th at 9-under 279—his lowest result in three ADT events this year.
- Rahil Gangjee, the 46-year-old veteran from Kolkata and two-time ADT winner in 2023, posted a Tied-43rd finish at 7-under 281.
- Noida’s Arjun Sharma and Patna’s Aman Raj also made the weekend, finishing Tied-45th and Tied-51st respectively.
Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa S. and Ludhiana’s Pukhraj Gill were the two Indians who missed the cut.
Next Up
The second leg of “Morocco Rising Stars – Marrakech” is being played this week just 20 kilometres north, at the Al Maaden Golf Resort. Both weeks carry purses of US$125,000 and are jointly sanctioned with the Arab Golf Federation (AGF) as part of a three-year collaboration with the Asian Development Tour aimed at expanding competitive opportunities in the region.