Rahil Gangjee

Rahil Gangjee
Personal information
Born (1978-10-02) 2 October 1978 (age 46)
Calcutta, India
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Sporting nationality India
Career
CollegeBhawanipur Education Society College
Turned professional2001
Current tour(s)Asian Tour
Professional Golf Tour of India
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Web.com Tour
Asian Development 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.

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

  • 1997 Sri Lankan Amateur, East India Amateur
  • 1998 East India Amateur
  • 2000 East India Amateur, Western India Amateur, Northern India Amateur

Professional wins (8)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 22 Apr 2018 Panasonic Open Golf Championship1 −14 (69-65-68-68=270) 1 stroke South Korea Hwang Jung-gon, South Korea Kim Hyung-sung

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Asian Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 2 May 2004 Volkswagen Masters-China −15 (69-66-70-68=273) Playoff South Korea Mo Joong-kyung
2 22 Apr 2018 Panasonic Open Golf Championship1 −14 (69-65-68-68=270) 1 stroke South Korea Hwang Jung-gon, South Korea Kim Hyung-sung

1Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–1)

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

Asian Development Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 3 Aug 2018 Louis Philippe Cup1 −11 (69-69-68-63=269) 3 strokes India Om Prakash Chouhan, India Rashid Khan
2 22 Jun 2024 PKNS Selangor Masters2 −8 (66-66-67-73=272) 1 stroke Australia Deyen Lawson
3 31 Aug 2024 BRG Open Golf Championship3 −10 (72-67-70=209) 1 stroke Philippines Aidric Jose Chan, India 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. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 21 Jun 2008 PGTI Players Championship (Royal Calcutta) −9 (34-69-66-65=234) 5 strokes India Ashok Kumar, India Anirban Lahiri
2 20 Sep 2013 PGTI Players Championship (Chandigarh II) −13 (67-71-67-70=275) 6 strokes Bangladesh Zamal Hossain, India Sujjan Singh
3 3 Aug 2018 Louis Philippe Cup1 −11 (69-69-68-63=269) 3 strokes India Om Prakash Chouhan, India Rashid Khan

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour

Other wins (1)

  • 2001 HT Pro Golf Lucknow

Playoff record

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2012 Gujarat Kensville Challenge Germany Maximilian Kieffer Lost to par on first extra hole

Team appearances

Amateur

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.