Khalin looking forward to a more ‘relaxed’ season

Bengaluru, February 8: Indian golfers are taking giant strides in the world of golf. And local lad Khalin Joshi is not far behind. Bengaluru golfer Khalin kicked off the year on a positive note, notching up a creditable finish at the Maybank Championship last week. The event, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tour, saw Khalin notch up a tied fifth finish, while compatriot and friend Shubhankar Sharma, walked away with the trophy.

Over the past few years, Khalin has been lurking in the shadows and has not had a breakthrough season. The 25-year-old’s sole concentration over the last few seasons has been to secure the Asian Tour card, which has always come at the fag end of the season. But this year, the Bengaluru pro is looking forward to a much more relaxed year, having already secured his card. The tied fifth finish saw Khalin virtually secure his 2019 Asian Tour card, and that has definitely taken the load off the golfer.

Congratulations to @KhalinJoshi on finishing in the top-5 of the #MaybankChampionship, hence securing a top 60 ranking on @asiantourgolf #whereitsAT

— Rishi Narain (@RishiNarain_) February 5, 2018

Khalin, who is a very content golfer having secured his card this early in the season, said, “It obviously means a lot (to secure the card). For the 2018 season I got my card towards the end of the year. Obviously I was trying the whole year. But now it changes the perspective for the whole year. Now whenever I tee off I will concentrate on just winning. I will be a lot more relaxed and can concentrate on winning and not worry about the card.

“Since I’m going to be more relaxed I’ll be able to perform better and put myself in contention and do better. I’m looking forward to the year and hopefully I can have more wins going forward.”

Securing a card has always been tough, and reflecting back on the past seasons Khalin said, “This is the first full season I’m playing with the full status. Otherwise in 2015 I missed it by $400, which is one shot and it was the last event. It changes a lot going forward, it changes the way I look at the whole year. Now its not only about Asia, it’s also about getting into Europe and playing on the higher tour. My world ranking is in the 300s. This will give me opportunities to qualify for the Majors. It changes a lot. It gives you a lot of stability going forward. I’m just looking forward to be in the mix every week,” added a determined Joshi.

@KhalinJoshi records personal best finish @EuropeanTour with T5 finish @asiantourgolf pic.twitter.com/KCNxza3tkh

— PGTI (@PGTITOUR) February 4, 2018

The Maybank Championship saw Khalin notch up his best-ever finish on the European tour as well. Heading into the final day, the Bengaluru lad had put himself in contention starting the day on tied third. But a couple of dropped-shots saw the 25-year-old settle for a tied-fifth finish. Reflecting back on his final round Khalin said, “It was one of my biggest events so obviously there were nerves. I feel like if you put yourself in those positions often you will come out victorious eventually. Shubhankar has put himself in those positions a few more times than I have. Its my best performance, though I felt like I could have finished higher, but it did boost my confidence a lot. Now I have to put myself in those situations more often and keep knocking on doors and it has to open eventually.”

Khalin who was Shubhankar’s roommate during the Maybank championship was full of praise for his friend, who has been sending ripples across the golfing world. Some have even pegged him to be the next 'Anirban Lahiri’, after the Chandigarh lad leapfrogged Lahiri to be the highest-ranked Indian at 72 in the world.

“I don’t think he’s trying to be the next Anirban. I know him very well and he’s a very level headed guy. He’s going to take golf to the next level. He’s a great golfer. He’s a great human being. Success is not going to get to his head. He’s only going to keep trying to go higher. All of us want to follow in his footsteps. He’s going to do a lot for Indian golf going forward,” signed off Khalin, who is going to capitalise on a pretty relaxed first half of the season by working on his game with his coach.

In the euphoria following @shubhankargolf's enormous rise, let us not forget that @KhalinJoshi's excellent finish in @maybankchampio1 has helped him to climb up from world ranking of 558 to 387 and also currently ranked 5 in @asiantourgolf OOM.

— Swami Venkat (@SwamiGolfSydney) February 5, 2018

Khalin, Saqib felicitated

In an event in the city, Khalin, and local boy Syed Saqib Ahmed were felicitated at the Karnataka Golf Association on Thursday. While Khalin was recognised for his commendable show in Malaysia, Syed was acknowledged for his first win on the PGTI tour. The duo were felicitated by the Golf Industry Association during the curtain-raiser of the 7th edition of the Indian Golf Expo, which will be held in the city in April.

The two-day India Golf Expo will be held from April 20-21 at the Lalit Ashok hotel, Bengaluru and will bring together experts from different domains, drawn from across the globe to share knowledge and best practices for the development and sustenance of the sport in the country.

Bengaluru is the second largest golfing destination in the country and this exposition will mark the second time that the city hosted the India Golf Expo since its launch conducted in here, seven years ago.