Rahil Gangjee

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Rahil Gangjee
Personal information
Born (1978-10-02) 2 October 1978 (age 45)
Calcutta, India
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Sporting nationalityFlag of India.svg  India
Career
CollegeBhawanipur Education Society College
Turned professional2001
Current tour(s) Asian Development Tour
Professional Golf Tour of India
Former tour(s) Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Web.com Tour
Professional wins8
Number of wins by tour
Japan Golf Tour1
Asian Tour2
Other5

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.

Contents

Early life and amateur career

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

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

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

Professional wins (8)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runners-up
122 Apr 2018 Panasonic Open Golf Championship 1−14 (69-65-68-68=270)1 stroke Flag of South Korea.svg Hwang Jung-gon, Flag of South Korea.svg Kim Hyung-sung

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Asian Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
12 May 2004 Volkswagen Masters-China −15 (69-66-70-68=273)Playoff Flag of South Korea.svg Mo Joong-kyung
222 Apr 2018 Panasonic Open Golf Championship 1−14 (69-65-68-68=270)1 stroke Flag of South Korea.svg Hwang Jung-gon, Flag of South Korea.svg Kim Hyung-sung

1Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2004 Volkswagen Masters-China Flag of South Korea.svg Mo Joong-kyung Won with par on first extra hole
2 2014 Panasonic Open India Flag of India.svg Shiv Chawrasia, Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Mithun Perera Chawrasia won with birdie on first extra hole

Asian Development Tour wins (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
13 Aug 2018 Louis Philippe Cup1−11 (69-69-68-63=269)3 strokes Flag of India.svg Om Prakash Chouhan, Flag of India.svg Rashid Khan
222 Jun 2024 PKNS Selangor Masters 2−8 (66-66-67-73=272)1 stroke Flag of Australia (converted).svg Deyen Lawson
331 Aug 2024BRG Open Golf Championship3−10 (72-67-70=209)1 stroke Flag of the Philippines.svg Aidric Jose Chan, Flag of India.svg 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)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runners-up
121 Jun 2008 PGTI Players Championship (Royal Calcutta)−9 (34-69-66-65=234)5 strokes Flag of India.svg Ashok Kumar, Flag of India.svg Anirban Lahiri
220 Sep 2013 PGTI Players Championship (Chandigarh II)−13 (67-71-67-70=275)6 strokes Flag of Bangladesh.svg Zamal Hossain, Flag of India.svg Sujjan Singh
33 Aug 2018 Louis Philippe Cup1−11 (69-69-68-63=269)3 strokes Flag of India.svg Om Prakash Chouhan, Flag of India.svg Rashid Khan

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour

Other wins (1)

Playoff record

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2012 Gujarat Kensville Challenge Flag of Germany.svg Maximilian Kieffer Lost to par on first extra hole

Team appearances

Amateur

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References

  1. "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.
  2. Gangjee Claims Dream Victory in Volkswagen Masters-China
  3. Ganjgee wins in a Canter
  4. "Christian wins Nationwide Mylan Classic, as Gangjee aces par-4 hole". PGA of America. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.