The HotelPlanner Tour arrives in India for the first of two co-sanctioned events with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI). Royal Calcutta Golf Club plays host for the Kolkata Challenge, and here are three players to keep an eye on…
Form horse: Jamie Rutherford
Jamie Rutherford sits third after four events on the Road to Mallorca after earning a maiden HotelPlanner Tour win during the South African Swing. The Englishman’s victory in the Cell C Cape Town Open in association with Honor boosted his early-season promotion hopes, and he followed that with a sixth-place finish in the NTT Data Pro Am the following week. In his last outing three weeks ago, Rutherford teed it up on the DP World Tour, recording a tied fifth finish in the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa, his best finish on Golf’s Global Tour to date. The 32-year-old also has previous at Royal Calcutta Golf Club having finished inside the top 20 here last year.
Local boy: Yuvraj Sandhu
Yuvraj Sandhu couldn’t have got his PGTI season off to a better start. Although only in its infancy in 2025, Sandhu has teed it up twice, winning on both occasions to top the early PGTI Order of Merit. The 28-year-old carded rounds of 63-61-68-68 in the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship 2025 presented by The Tollygunge Club Ltd to win by two strokes with a 20 under par total in his first outing of the year. A week later he was at it again, continuing his blistering form to ease to a five-stroke victory in the Glade One presents Gujarat Open Golf Championship. He’s certainly one to keep an eye on this week as he looks to make it three victories in successive starts.
(Photo credit: PGTI)
The outsider: Daniel Young
Daniel Young has showed consistency through the early part of the 2025 season, making the cut in all four starts on the HotelPlanner Tour, and he continued that trend on the DP World Tour in the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa last month. The Scotsman is 14th in the early Road to Mallorca Rankings and will be out to show his promotion mettle when he tees it up at Royal Calcutta. Young enjoyed his time in India 12 months ago, recording a tied 11th finish in Tollygunge on that occasion after posting rounds of 69-66-72-73.
