Women's Golf Association of India

Golf in the Olympic year - 2024

The Two year run up to the 2024 Golf Olympics made the year special.

Players from different countries worked tirelessly traveling from country to country across continents to accrue points to break into the top 400 Rolex World Rankings. The much awaited date 24th of June for the 60 female players was indeed a journey of grit and perseverance.

As the popularity of Golf soars worldwide attracting several smaller countries, in India too growth in the game in the last three years has been driven by professional careers in the sport. India was represented for the 3rd time at the Golf Olympics. India’s Pranavi Urs made her mark as the 1st Reserve.

The Olympics at RIO 2016 generated approximately 30,000 spectators, Tokyo Olympics had controlled number of specatators due to the overhang of COVID. At Paris eight years after Golf’s re-entry into the Golf Olympics it is estimated that over 100,000 spectators thronged Le Golf National at the 2024 PARIS Olympics.

Looking back the last 8 years, to sustain form to represent one’s country in three consecutive Olympics takes a great deal of both mental and physical training for years. Professional golf players who chose golf as professional sport reaped benefits. Amazing arrangements and good weather graced the venue. New-Zealand’s Lydia Ko who won a Gold became the first golfer in the world to win consecutive Olympic medals the Bronze, The Silver and The Gold medal. The 2024 Gold win too was an incredible feat as Lydia was able to sustain her wining form over an eight year period.

While India is still counting Professional golfers in the hundreds, it is likely that the next 5 years Indian Golf careers will surge.

While Iconic Indian women golfers like Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar are Olympians, India will have a larger pool of players who will hone their skills in International Tours in 2025-28. June 2026 will be the start for counting events for the Los Angeles Olympics. A new generation of younger golfers are making their mark on the LET and will be hopefuls for the 2028 Olympics.

On the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour, the year has shown 8 tournament winners and 48 prize-money winners. The Prize money winners have seen a three- fold increase. Notable maximum tournament winners on the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour have been seasoned professionals Simi Mehra and Vani Kapoor who have both had 7 wins each in seasons 2011-12 and 2016 respectively. Regular as an Amateur player on Hero Professional Golf Tour last couple of years, Avani Prashanth secured her Ladies European Tour 2025 card with Sneha Singh, Amandeep Drall , Vidharti Urs and Vani Kapoor knocking on the LET doors. Lots in store for these very talented players in besides the home tour prize money, the LET has announce Euros 39 Million for 2025 prize money in 30 tournaments.

As Hero Professional Golf Tour welcomes players from both Indian and International players in the New-Year 2025, we look forward to seeing the two stalwarts’ record being broken.

Happy New-Year to all dear players, our Sponsors, Referees, Host Clubs, Media Personnel, Vendors and Staff.

Champika N Sayal