15 Indians chased Asian Tour cards at Qualifying School Final Stage in Thailand—delivering possibly the best collective result for Indian golf in recent years—with four securing full 2026 playing rights and four more nabbing Asian Development Tour status.
With this increased presence on the tour in 2026, we hope more Indian boys will feature prominently on the Asian Tour rankings at the end of the year considering the huge hit to rankings in 2024 and 2025.
Leading the charge was PGTI No. 3 Shaurya Bhattacharya, who skipped the CIDCO Open in Navi Mumbai to capitalise on a direct exemption into Final Stage under Category N (top-5 on the 2025 PGTI Order of Merit not otherwise exempt). He delivered rounds of 70-67-65-66-72 for 15-under 340 and a runner-up finish, just one shot shy of China’s Yuxin Lin.
India Golf Weekly caught up with Shaurya over a phone call. Coached by 2010 Asian Games silver medallist Rahul Bajaj, Shaurya reflected on his excellent week in Thailand and shared his plans to divide time between the Asian Tour and the PGTI in 2026.
“It feels amazing to deliver a strong performance at a tournament I had been looking forward to for a long time. I’m filled with gratitude for the positive people around me, who I consider like family.
Playing on two different tours will be challenging, but also very exciting. Time management will be key to handling back-to-back events and extensive travel. I’m delighted to finally experience the things I once dreamt of, and I’m really looking forward to teeing it up on the Asian Tour next year.”
Two former Asian Tour winners Rashid Khan & Ajeetesh Sandhu finished 15th and 20th respectively with 7 under and 6 under totals.
In 2023, Honey Baisoya was the only Indian in the top-35 to earn full playing rights for the 2024 season.
The fourth Indian to secure a full card was Shubham Jaglan. The University of Florida product who finished 85th on the PGA Tour Americas rankings this year to narrowly miss retaining full status there. He faltered in the final round with a 76 and then survived a 5 hole playoff with 12 players.
The four Indians earning Asian Development Tour status are former Asian Tour winner Khalin Joshi of Bangalore, Delhi’s Kartik Singh, who will soon celebrate his 16th birthday, PGTI champion Honey Baisoya, and former ADT winner Chikkarangappa S., also from Bangalore.
Photo – Asian Tour
