Yuvraj Sandhu captured his sixth title of the season with a 14-under 274 total at the Rs 1 crore Vishwa Samudra Open at Delhi Golf Club, closing with twin 66s after earlier rounds of 73 and 69 to break the earnings record with Rs 1.61 crore, which surpassed Veer Ahlawat’s Rs 1.57 crore earnings mark set in 2024. The Chandigarh pro also matched Manu Gandas’ 2022 record for most wins in a single PGTI season
By clinching the 2025 PGTI No 1 Rank he earns the much coveted DP World (European) Tour card for 2026. The result validates his decision to focus on the domestic circuit this year after giving up his Asian Tour card.
With two events yet to go, Sandhu has a chance to further build on the all-time PGTI single season earnings record and also earn a record seventh win.
Sandhu’s earnings have risen partially thanks to the larger total domestic tour prize money of ₹28. 6 crore (Plus a further 61.6cr from 4 international events in 2025 co-sanctioned by PGTI) from 24 events this season compared to ₹20.0 crore (₹28.4cr from 4 International events in 2024) from 18 events last year. Showing a roughly 40% increase in domestic purses.
International events consisting of the US$ 4 million DP World Tour India Championship, the US$ 2.5 million Hero Indian Open and two Challenge Tour events, each with purses of US$300,000 enabled players to further top up their earnings as the PGTI considers 50% of the winning amount for the players rankings calculation.
The US$ 7 million in PGTI and European ( DP World) co sanctioned events is a new record of International events prize money ever offered in India for men in a calendar year. When you add the US$2 million from the Asian Tour’s International Series event held in February at DLF starring Bryson DeChambeau and the US$500,000 IGPL Bharat Classic in Ahmedabad this November – this figure gets close to US$10 million !!
While these international prize money events present amazing earnings opportunities for Indian players, their failure to register top finishes (except in the last mentioned event in Ahmedabad) also signals the widening gap in standards globally compared to players honing their skills in India.
With many of these big international events set to repeat in 2026, the powers responsible for player development should take note and approach player preparation on a war footing so there is tangible change of fortunes for Indians in 2026.
The PGTI tour this week plays at the newly opened 18 hole championship, Kharghar Valley Golf Course in Navi Mumbai for the penultimate event of 2025, the Rs 1 crore CIDCO Open presented by Larsen & Toubro.
Note – US$ considered – 2024 – Rs. 85 & 2025 – Rs. 90
Photo – PGTI
