Rahil Gangjee
| Rahil Gangjee | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | 2 October 1978 Calcutta, India |
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lb) |
| Sporting nationality |  India |
| Career | |
| College | Bhawanipur Education Society College |
| Turned professional | 2001 |
| Current tour(s) | Asian Tour Professional Golf Tour of India |
| Former tour(s) | Japan Golf Tour Web.com Tour Asian Development Tour |
| Professional wins | 8 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| Japan Golf Tour | 1 |
| Asian Tour | 2 |
| Other | 5 |
Rahil Gangjee (born 2 October 1978) is an Indian professional golfer who has played on the Japan Golf Tour and the Asian Tour, where he has two victories.
Early life and amateur career
[edit]Gangjee was born in Calcutta, but now resides in Bengaluru.[1] He was educated at La Martiniere Calcutta. He had a decorated amateur career that included the 1997 Sri Lankan Amateur and the East India Amateur in 1997, 1998 and 2000. He would soon become India's number one amateur in 1999.
He kept the title of being India's top ranked amateur by winning the Northern India Amateur in 2000. In the same year he won the Western India Amateur, by a margin of 19 strokes.
Professional career
[edit]Gangjee turned professional in 2001 by finishing as a runner up in the PGA of India Tour qualifying school. He won in his very first year as a professional in Lucknow. He played in his first full season on the Asian Tour in 2004. Just as he had won in his first year on the PGA of India Tour, he also won in his debut year on the Asia Tour.
Gangjee was a surprise winner in his lone tournament victory at the Volkswagen Masters-China in 2004. It was only his 4th start of the season and 8th career start on Tour. He finished at 15-under-par and won in a playoff over Mo Joong-kyung.[2] The event featured many notable names including Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Phillip Price, Jeev Milkha Singh, Des Terblanche and Zhang Lianwei.
Gangjee would continue playing full-time on the Asian Tour, not picking up another tournament win between 2004 and 2008. He made 16 of 25 cuts with only one top-10 finish in 2008. He did however pick up a win in June 2008 at the PGTI Players Championship on the Professional Golf Tour of India in his hometown of Calcutta by a margin of five strokes.[3]
At the end of 2010 Gangjee qualified for the Nationwide Tour. At the 2011 Mylan Classic, Gangjee made an ace on the par-4 15th hole during the final round. He used driver to pull off the 318 yard shot.[4]
Gangjee played on the Nationwide Tour in 2011 and 2012 and then returned to the Asian Tour. His best finish on the Nationwide Tour was T-11 at the 2011 Rex Hospital Open.
Gangjee's next significant win came in April 2018 in Japan when he won the Panasonic Open Golf Championship. This secured his Japan Golf Tour card for the following 3 years. He also won the Louis Philippe Cup (an Asian Development Tour) event in the same year.
Personal life
[edit]Rahil Gangjee participated in most sports in this school life. He represented his school La Martiniere Calcutta in swimming from the early age of 6. He also excelled in elocution, won plenty of times for Martin House. He ended his school life playing Hockey for his school and was the fastest runner in the 100 meters and 200 meters in class 11 and 12. He was prefect for house Martin and even sang for the choir. Rahil was interested in horseback riding, but his father made him give it up because he believed it was too dangerous as it could be too detrimental for his potential career in golf .[citation needed]
Rahil is a member of Royal Calcutta Golf Club and Tollygunge Club, where he grew up and honed his golfing skills.
Gangjee credits Arjun Atwal (a former Asian Number One), as his inspiration. Atwal lived three doors down from Gangjee in Calcutta.[citation needed]
Amateur wins
[edit]- 1997 Sri Lankan Amateur, East India Amateur
- 1998 East India Amateur
- 2000 East India Amateur, Western India Amateur, Northern India Amateur
Professional wins (8)
[edit]Japan Golf Tour wins (1)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 Apr 2018 | Panasonic Open Golf Championship1 | −14 (69-65-68-68=270) | 1 stroke |  Hwang Jung-gon, Kim Hyung-sung
|
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
Asian Tour wins (2)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 May 2004 | Volkswagen Masters-China | −15 (69-66-70-68=273) | Playoff | Mo Joong-kyung
|
| 2 | 22 Apr 2018 | Panasonic Open Golf Championship1 | −14 (69-65-68-68=270) | 1 stroke | Hwang Jung-gon, Kim Hyung-sung
|
1Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (1–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2004 | Volkswagen Masters-China | Mo Joong-kyung
|
Won with par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2014 | Panasonic Open India | Shiv Chawrasia,  Mithun Perera
|
Chawrasia won with birdie on first extra hole |
Asian Development Tour wins (3)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 Aug 2018 | Louis Philippe Cup1 | −11 (69-69-68-63=269) | 3 strokes | Om Prakash Chouhan, Rashid Khan
|
| 2 | 22 Jun 2024 | PKNS Selangor Masters2 | −8 (66-66-67-73=272) | 1 stroke |  Deyen Lawson
|
| 3 | 31 Aug 2024 | BRG Open Golf Championship3 | −10 (72-67-70=209) | 1 stroke |  Aidric Jose Chan, Aman Raj
|
1Co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India
2Co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf of Malaysia Tour
3Co-sanctioned by the VGA Tour
Professional Golf Tour of India wins (3)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 Jun 2008 | PGTI Players Championship (Royal Calcutta) | −9 (34-69-66-65=234) | 5 strokes | Ashok Kumar, Anirban Lahiri
|
| 2 | 20 Sep 2013 | PGTI Players Championship (Chandigarh II) | −13 (67-71-67-70=275) | 6 strokes |  Zamal Hossain, Sujjan Singh
|
| 3 | 3 Aug 2018 | Louis Philippe Cup1 | −11 (69-69-68-63=269) | 3 strokes | Om Prakash Chouhan, Rashid Khan
|
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour
Other wins (1)
[edit]- 2001 HT Pro Golf Lucknow
Playoff record
[edit]Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2012 | Gujarat Kensville Challenge |  Maximilian Kieffer
|
Lost to par on first extra hole |
Team appearances
[edit]Amateur
- Eisenhower Trophy (representing India): 2000
References
[edit]- ^ "Satisfied with game but still looking for the big W: Gangjee". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. The Times of India. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
- ^ Gangjee Claims Dream Victory in Volkswagen Masters-China
- ^ Ganjgee wins in a Canter
- ^ "Christian wins Nationwide Mylan Classic, as Gangjee aces par-4 hole". PGA of America. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
External links
[edit]- Rahil Gangjee at the PGA Tour official site
- Rahil Gangjee at the Japan Golf Tour official site
- Rahil Gangjee at the Asian Tour official site
- Rahil Gangjee at the Official World Golf Ranking official site