India’s best performance at the Olympics came from Aditi Ashok, who finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Indian golfers Aditi Ashok (46) and Diksha Dagar (138) are expected to participate in the Paris Olympics while Shubhankar Sharma (197) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (232) also have a strong chance of making it to the Games. While this will be Aditi’s third appearance in the Olympics, which is also the biggest for an Indian, Diksha will be competing for the second time. For Sharma and Bhullar, this would be their first appearance at the Olympics.
India’s best performance at the Olympics came from Aditi who finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Olympic entries are sent by the Indian Golf Union.
Qualification for the Olympic Games is determined by rankings, limited to 60 male players and as many female players according to the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
The top 15 players in the OWGR are eligible for the Olympics with a maximum limit of four golfers allowed from a single country.
The Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR) after the top 15 players includes up to two top eligible players per country, provided there are not at least two golfers in the top 15.
Meanwhile, Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia, the two Indian-Americans making waves on the PGA Tour, both reached their career highs this week.
Theegala, who finished second in 2024, and Bhatia, who won his second PGA Tour title and qualified for the Masters, are now ranked 12th and 33rd, respectively.
However, neither Theegala nor Bhatia have a chance of making an Olympic appearance as the top 15 in the world rankings is down to eight Americans.
In 11 starts, Theegala was runner-up at the season-opening Sentry and the RBC Heritage and finished fifth at the WM Phoenix Open and tied for sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Bhatia, in her 12 starts, has won once at the Texas Open and has been in the top 20 as many as six times. He also missed the cut four times.
The top four Americans are Scottie Scheffler (1), Wyndham Clark (3), reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele (5) and Patrick Cantlay (8). Two other Americans, Max Homa (9) and Brian Haran (10), are also ahead of Theegala, who is the seventh-best American in the world rankings.
While only four players can be entered into the Olympics, provided they are in the world’s top 15, only the United States has four or more on the roster.
All other countries can send a maximum of two players provided they are both in the top 60 in Olympic qualifying.
Meanwhile, among the women, Aditi, despite a modest 2024 so far, remains in the top 50.
Diksha, who has been in good form, has been in the top 10 three times in five starts on the Ladies European Tour, and has also been tied for 26 or better in her two Epson Tour starts.
Diksha also touched 138th in the women’s world rankings, her best so far.
The next two Indian women are Pranavi Urs, playing her rookie season on LET, at 403 and amateur Avani Prashanth at 531.
Among the Indian men, Sharma, the only Indian in the top 200, finished tied for seventh at the Singapore Classic and tied for 16th at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Bhullar’s best in 2024 was tied 43 in Oman on the Asian tour, but he also won once at Chandigarh Open on the Indian tour, for his second victory in four months in India.
The toppers after Sharma and Bhullar are Veer Ahlawat with 380 and Karandeep Kochhar with 434.
