Sam Jones is looking to continue his impressive start to the season when he tees it up in the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta Golf Club this week, in the first of back-to-back co-sanctioned events between the HotelPlanner Tour and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).
The New Zealander has enjoyed an outstanding start to the 2025 Road to Mallorca, recording two top ten finishes in four starts to sit fourth in the season-long Rankings through four events.
The 28-year-old played on the DP World Tour last year, in his debut season as a professional, after earning his card through Qualifying School, and despite two top ten finishes, narrowly missed out on retaining playing privileges for 2025.
Jones is targeting a return to Golf’s Global Tour at the earliest opportunity, and is hoping to use the experience of last year to his advantage as he navigates the 29-event schedule on the Road to Mallorca.
“I think that experience last year is already helping this year,” he said. “It was a bit of a whirlwind as my first year as a professional, so to get thrown into the deep end with the big boys was pretty cool.
“It was also a bit overwhelming, so it would be nice to have a good season here, to get back to the DP World Tour with a little more confidence and now with a bit more understanding of what goes on.
“I feel like I know some of the guys and I’m that bit more comfortable this year. I didn’t really know what to expect going over to South Africa, but I settled in, plotted my way around and finished with some good results to start the season.”
Jones has experienced playing in India before having done so in the Hero Indian Open last year, and with temperatures set to soar in Tollygunge, he’s excited to get started after a three-week break.
“I’m ready to get going,” he added. “I’ve obviously had a good start to the season and the game has been in good shape, so I’m excited to see what I can do in the next couple of weeks.
“You’ve got to hit it straight here, with there being a few tight holes. When the temperature is up to 35 or 40 degrees, you do get a bit of extra distance and the body is moving a bit better, so the ball-speed is jumping up as well, so it’s a bit of a juggling act.
“I haven’t played on a course like this in a while so it’ll be a good challenge.”
Jones joins a strong field in Kolkata for the first of back-to-back co-sanctioned events between the HotelPlanner Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), which includes DP World Tour winners S.S.P Chawrasia, Eddie Pepperell and Renato Paratore, and current PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu.
The opening round of the Kolkata Challenge gets under way at 6:05am local time, with Jones teeing off alongside Sandhu and Englishman Ben Stow at 12:00pm.
