Gurugram, March 17 (IANS) The 21-year-old rookie Aryav Shah of Kolkata fired a four-under 68 to lead after round one of the INR 25 lakh DP World PGTI NexGen 2026 being played at the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club in Gurugram on Tuesday.

The trio of Ayaan Gupta, Lakshya Nagar, and Malaysia’s Ruhanraj Vinayagam returned scores of three-under 69 to be tied third. Ayaan and Ruhanraj, like Aryav, are also playing their debut season on the DP World PGTI.

Aryav Shah had a slow front-nine where he made two birdies and two bogeys. However, Aryav had a strong back nine where he made four birdies.

The 54-hole event features a field of 90. The top 35 players and ties will make the cut at the end of round two on Wednesday.

The NexGen Tour was launched by the PGTI last year with the objective of providing equal playing opportunities to all professional golfers of India and to increase the bench strength in Indian golf, which in turn increases competition and the level of golf. The NexGen also aims to take professional golf to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, thus expanding the reach of the sport within the country.

The 2026 PGTI Qualifying School participants are eligible to play on the NexGen Tour in 2026. The winner of this year’s NexGen Order of Merit will earn an exemption on the main tour (DP World PGTI) for the 2027 season.

The NexGen 2026 season got underway with the first event at the Aravalli Golf Club in Faridabad. Abhishek Kumar produced a tournament low score, a sublime bogey-free eight-under 64 in the third and final round, to register a sensational come-from-behind victory in the first leg, which featured 72 players.

The second event was the NexGen Phillaur Open 2026, which was played from March 3–5 at the Ranjitgarh Golf Club in Phillaur, and Lucknow-based Armyman Rajesh Kumar Gautam (70-67-70) edged out Pankaj Maandiya (68-70-69) and Aditya Raj Singh Chahal (69-69-69) in a playoff that went to three extra holes to win the title after the trio ended the regulation 54 holes with matching totals of six-under 207.

The next NexGen event was played at Lucknow Golf Club from March 10–12, while the last NexGen event of the 2026 season will be played at Patna Golf Club from March 24–26.

The prize purse for each NexGen event has been increased from INR 20 lakh to INR 25 lakh this season.

--IANS

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