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Indian golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu secured an Asian Tour card for the 2024 season. The young golfer is all set to embark on his journey on the International Tour in 2024. He finished in the top 10 of the Asian Development Tour's (ADT) Order of Merit to earn the card.
Sandhu turned professional in 2018, and since then, he has proven his skill time and again on the PGTI Tour. With five PGTI wins in 2022, he finished second in the 2022 TATA Steel PGTI Rankings. He has also won the 2019 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit.
"My motivation to first pick up the sport is obviously Tiger (Woods) because I picked up golf when Tiger was at his peak. But the whole love for the game actually came from the background that I come from." - Yuvraj Singh Sandhu
Yuvraj Singh Sandhu talked candidly about his experience, aspirations, and interest in LIV Golf in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda as he prepared for his Asian Tour journey.
Below are the excerpts from the conversation:
Congratulations on your impressive performance at the Saudi Open, competing among the top international players! How was your experience competing in an international tournament?
It was good. It was my second time in Saudi (Arabia). The last time was the Saudi Aramco Invitational, as a part of the ADT Tour event. Last week was my second time going to Saudi to (compete in) a bigger tournament and a much bigger field.
I mean, I was excited to tee up with the likes of Henrik Stenson and Kevin Na and all these players that I always saw on TV and now I am practicing on the range of these players and putting on the same green as them. So it felt good that I achieved something. It opened my eyes to the sense that I have a lot to work on and lots of techniques to achieve. So, going to Saudi (Arabia) is an eye-opener. It was a good learning experience. I just came back hungrier.
Congratulations once again on earning your Asian Tour card! As you embark on this upcoming journey, what aspects of the Asian Tour are you most looking forward to experiencing?
I am looking forward to traveling more for golf as such and looking forward to seeing more countries. Playing with many experienced players and also winning on the International Tour would be the icing on the cake.
Aside from the Asian Tour, the Paris Olympics presents an exciting opportunity next year. How are you preparing to qualify for the Olympics?
The Paris Olympics is also something that I am looking forward to, but the only way golfers can qualify is by a World Ranking Point. So a win on the Asian Tour will actually help me qualify for the Paris Olympics. So, more focus on preparing for the next season. January is going to be a lot of preparation and a lot of off-season work with my team, back home, in the gym, and on the golf course. Focus on what we need to do to get better and sharper and I hope I will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Over the past few years, golf has seen significant changes, from the emergence of LIV Golf to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy exploring a new virtual golf series. What are your thoughts on these evolving dynamics within the sport?
The thing about golf is that it is an ever-evolving sport. I mean, look, ten years ago, there were 15 players on a particular tour, and those 15 would be on retention. But now that you look up, there are around 100 players who can win in a week. In a sense, the capabilities to win that week have gone up from 15 to 100. Golf is ever-evolving but it is also demanding.
It was supposed to be a lazy game but ever since Tiger changed the whole physical aspect of it, golf is becoming tougher by the day. I also feel that the whole LIV and the new introduction to limited tours are definitely going to bring a lot of competitiveness. But I feel the only thing that would be fair in being competitive and evolving it like a sport is like a world ranking system to become a bit fairer.
Do you think World Ranking points should be awarded to LIV golfers?
I don't have any comment on that because LIV is coming right now. And you know, understanding the whole dynamic of LIV and how it works, apart from the money inflow and outflow, nobody is aware of what the future of LIV Golf is because the money is so much.
I don't think I would like to comment on the World Ranking system with LIV but I feel like the World Ranking system for existing tours that have been existing for years now—the DP World, the PGA Tour, the PGTI, the Japan Tour, the Korean Tour—all these tours that would have had World Ranking points for a very long time, for decades, have World Ranking points. I think that it should become a bit fairer.
LIV is great for a lot of players but for players like me, I am always interested in playing in majors and I am not very clear about what LIV's future is. LIV players can tee it up at Majors or they cannot tee it up at Majors. So those things should be more clear. For me, I am very clear in the sense of what I want and where I want to see myself, so I want to stick to that.
Are you interested in joining LIV in the future?
I really don't know how it works because, like, we do play for money but after a certain time, money is not everything. That's how I have been brought up. I played the sport because I loved it. Because this is my passion, it inspires me to play better every single day. Be it a 40 lakh tournament or a 4 crore tournament, I will play in the tournament with the same intensity to win. It's the competitiveness of the sport that drives me, and the thrill of the sport that drives me to wake up and come to the golf course.
Are you aiming for the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour?
I actually have conditionalized status on the DP World Tour and I am also going to play at the US Open qualifier and the British Open qualifier. Since I was a kid, I have grown up seeing people talk about how he teed it up at these many majors and won these many majors. Every player is respected or counted as great in terms of how many majors he has won or how many majors he teed up in. For me, the bar is actually Major, not the millions that any golfer makes. That would be my end goal. To win a major is my end goal.
What drew you to this sport, and what keeps your passion for golf alive despite its comparatively lower popularity in India?
My motivation to first pick up the sport is obviously Tiger (Woods) because I picked up golf when Tiger was at his peak. But the whole love for the game actually came from the background that I come from. The whole passionate thing about me is the background I came from because my dad was in the army. When I grew up, I saw people competing in it. People making a living out of it, people actually being respected for it. I started feeling that I could do the same.
You know, golf is not just about being a golfer. It teaches more about being a good human being as well. It holds your personality as being more socially affable and just being up there. It develops your personality more than anything else in any other sport. I fell in love with that and it gives me more time to think about being with myself. My army background just helped me to follow my passion and fall in love with it.
But I think now, my motivation with the sport is that knowing that the game is not that much followed in our country, I think my new motivation in the sport is that if I can inspire a child or if I can inspire young people, the youth, to take up this sport from my hometown or my home country, if they can just get inspired to pick the sport, that drives me. It's my new motivation that if somebody can just say, 'My son is playing golf because he saw Yuvraj Singh Sadhu play here,' I think at that time I would know that, 'Yes, I did make a difference.'
I noticed a picture on your Instagram page of you playing golf with former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh. What was that experience like?
It was a good experience. Yuvraj Singh is a really good fan (of golf). He plays quite often. He is excited about golf more than I am because he is new to the game. You know, playing with him was always fun because he talks about his days as a great cricketer and what he has been and we tell him about our difficulties in tees and about our sport. It's always fun to sit down and talk about the professionalism of athletes in terms of different sports.
So, it's fun when he tells a story about different countries and different matches. Whenever we played, he always appreciated how hard the golf game is and we are always like that. It's hard to believe he is a great sportsman himself and is appreciating us. For a few days, I was star-struck as well but he is a great human being. He is a well-wisher. He is a good friend. He is somebody who is very easy to talk to.
He is getting better (at golf). Athletes are somebody who wants to get better and better every time and that's why an athlete is an athlete because they can't sit still. They can never be satisfied. You know, the thing in Yuvraj (Singh) is still there. That's why whenever we are in town and we are on a break, he is like, 'Come, let's play a round of golf.' And we are like, 'Ke Paaji, we are too tired. We can't play right now. We need rest.' And they are like, 'No, no, just come.' You know, we have to tell him that this sport is also tiring. And he does understand that but enthusiasm is high on him.
Who is your current favorite golfer?
My current favorite golfer is Henrik Stenson because I just had a little chit-chat with him in Saudi Arabia. And Henrik is such a down-to-earth, such a humble person, for what he is. I mean, he is a great player. He achieved some great heights. He has just introduced himself despite the fact that, obviously, everybody knows who he is and is just talking to us. He was just super light and humble for the player he is. He is great. His determination, his passion for the sport that he is still playing and he is still enjoying it. I think he is my current favorite.
Who is your favorite Indian golfer?
I don't want to be a little narcissist but I am my favorite. I think I am my favorite because I am somebody who is weaving his own pathway. There have been things thrown at me but I take them with a smile.
