India’s top golfers, led by Aman Raj and Yuvraj Sandhu, will look to either secure or save a card when the Asian Tour returns to India with the inaugural Bharath Classic, a new event on the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Tour.

Winning the Bharath Classic will assure the champion Asian Tour playing privileges through 2026 and 2027 and open pathways to the highly lucrative International Series and the Liv Golf Tour.

Aman, the current leader on the IGPL Tour, will lead the home challenge at Kensville Golf Resort in what is the first Asian Tour event in India since the last one in March 2023. Aman, a two-time winner in Jaipur and Kolkata, leads the challenge of the Top-4 from the IGPL Money List. He is followed by the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill, winner of the IGPL Jamshedpur, and Sachin Baisoya and teen prodigy Kartik Singh. Another IGPL winner, Kapil Kumar, is also in the field.

Baisoya and Kartik have delivered consistent results but are still looking for their maiden IGPL wins. “My aim is to top the IGPL Order of Merit and get to the Asian Tour Q-School, but I can short cut the route to Asian Tour by winning this week,” said Aman after a practice round.

“The course is looking great, and the roughs are up, and the greens are rolling well. It will be a good challenge.” The US $5,00,000 event will also see Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, a former Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, leading a strong international challenge, including American James Piot, the 2021 U.S. Amateur champion, who played in the LIV Golf League in 2022 and 2023.

Ekpharit Wu from Thailand, who won the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open two weeks ago for his first Asian Tour title, Korean Wooyoung Cho, who has posted two top-10’s on the Asian Tour this year, will also be in fray. “It’s good to play an Asian Tour event in India after a long time and I hope more tournaments are added to the schedule. This gives our boys a big chance,” said Ajeetesh, a one-time Asian Tour winner.

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