A Sleepless Night, a Triple Bogey and a Golden Comeback: Pranavi Urs Makes Asian Games History

Pranavi Urs holed the putt. She still wasn’t sure what she had won.

“I just knew it was either a putt to win or it was a putt to force a playoff,” she said. “All I wanted to do was obviously hole the putt.”

Then Singapore’s Shannon Tan congratulated her. The 23-year-old from Mysuru had become the first Indian woman to win an individual golf gold medal at the Asian Games.

Her one-shot victory at Kasugai Country Club East in Aichi-Nagoya on Saturday followed a sleepless night and a final round that threatened to unravel almost as soon as it began. Pranavi’s even-par 70 left her at 15-under 265, ahead of China’s Yin Ruoning and Tan at 14-under. Yin subsequently won silver in a play-off.

A THREE-SHOT LEAD DISAPPEARS

Pranavi began the final round with a three-shot overnight advantage. She had barely slept and admitted to feeling nervous at the start.

On the third hole, a triple bogey wiped out that cushion.

Yin, a six-time LPGA winner and world No. 6, had started four strokes behind Pranavi. Birdies on the second and fourth helped move the Chinese golfer into the lead.

Pranavi had to find a way back while competing against one of the world’s best. She drew encouragement from the comebacks of her favourite golfers, Rory McIlroy and Nelly Korda, and began rebuilding her round.

A birdie on the sixth steadied her. Another on the 10th brought her level with Yin.

Then came the 13th. Her birdie putt appeared to circle the rim before dropping into the hole, returning Pranavi to 15-under and putting her back in front.

Five consecutive pars carried her home. On the 18th, her first putt stopped three feet short. She holed the next, completing a comeback whose full significance only became clear when Tan offered her congratulations.

‘THE FIRST WILL ALWAYS BE THE FIRST’

Pranavi had already experienced a breakthrough a year earlier, becoming the first woman to win an Indian Golf Premier League title against a mixed professional field.

Winning at the Asian Games demanded that she sustain her challenge over four days, then recover when her final-round lead disappeared.

“That’s always the goal—to always be the first one to do anything,” she said. “The first will always be the first, and I’ve always had that motto growing up and I’m just glad I could do it.”

The distinction between her two achievements was clear to her.

“IGPL was good, but this gold beats it.”

Her victory built on Aditi Ashok’s silver at the previous Asian Games, where Aditi became India’s first women’s individual golf medallist.

Pranavi also ended India’s 24-year wait for an individual golf gold at the Games. Shiv Kapur had last won the title in 2002, following Lakshman Singh’s triumph in 1982.

THE NEXT TITLE PRANAVI URS WANTS

Pranavi now competes on the Ladies European Tour, where she is still pursuing her maiden title after coming close on several occasions.

With the Hero Women’s Indian Open later this month, she hopes the Asian Games victory will give that pursuit fresh momentum.

“Maybe I will get it soon,” she said.

In Japan, she had watched an overnight advantage disappear, worked her way back and stood over a three-foot putt without knowing whether it would deliver gold or extend the contest.

She knew enough to finish the job. Tan supplied the rest.

With inputs from ANI