Maximilian Steinlechner tees it up this week in the Kolkata Challenge hoping to build on an impressive start to the 2025 season.
The Austrian earned a sensational win on his Sunshine Tour debut after accepting an invite to play in the Mediclinic Invitational in January. That victory came the week before the HotelPlanner Tour arrived in South Africa for four co-sanctioned events between the two tours.
The 25-year-old’s victory saw him earn starts in back-to-back co-sanctioned events between the Sunshine Tour and the DP World Tour, with the second of those taking place last week. After making successive cuts in those outings, he arrives in India full of confidence and looking to build on his current Road to Mallorca Ranking of 32nd.
Ahead of his return to the HotelPlanner Tour this week, we caught up with Maximilian to find out about winning in South Africa, DP World Tour starts and what to expect at Kolkata this week…
“India is always a very interesting country to come to, especially if you come from anywhere in Europe. The infrastructure are different to what we’re used to, but the courses are really good and the layouts are great.
“I’ve come here straight from Johannesburg after two weeks playing on the DP World Tour. For me this year, my main focus is the HotelPlanner Tour, but I played the two events to basically learn what the next step looks like and to get more reps and experience on that stage. I really enjoyed it.
“You see some of the names you were watching on TV when you were younger, so it was pretty cool. It gave me a taste of what every week could look like, and it gave me a little push to keep going.
“Coming into this year, I’ve started to see the importance of last season. My category meant that I didn’t know exactly when I would be playing, so I had to take every opportunity that I got, and I managed to do pretty well. There were a lot of decent weeks, and I feel like I learned how I needed to manage myself energy-wise throughout playing a lot of golf.
“The start of this year couldn’t have gone much better. One of my friends told me that he was playing a Sunshine Tour event before the four co-sanctioned events with the HotelPlanner Tour, so I asked him if he thought I could get an invite as well. That’s where it all started.
“I shot seven under on the first day. A lot of things went my way. Then I played well in the second round and all of a sudden everyone was saying, ‘who is that Austrian guy?’
“On the weekend I played with Daniel van Tonder in both rounds in the last group, and as we saw in the first two events of the HotelPlanner Tour season, he’s a great competitor. We were tied going down 18, and both putting for birdie. He went first, and he gave it a good run, but it just didn’t go in. Then I knew that if I made that putt, it was game over. I felt good about it. Some putts you just feel positive about and then you put a good stroke on it. It was one of those putts, and it was a cool moment.
“That result certainly gave me confidence and I had a good week in Zebula, in the first week of the HotelPlanner Tour season the week after.
“Now it’s back to India, and I know the courses here well. I played these events last year, so I’m familiar with the layouts. You never know. After a good first few rounds, anything can happen.”
