Sentosa, August 17: India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu is a man on a mission.

He wants to be ‘the best golfer he can ever be’ and he knows the world is his oyster.

The Indian is well on his way to achieving that as the spotlight has shone brightly on him as one of the Asian Tour’s ‘tomorrow’s stars today’ since his breakthrough at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) last year.

After missing out on an Asian Tour card in 2017 and having to rely on his country exemption status, Sandhu bounced back in the most deserving way by lifting his maiden title in Chinese Taipei.

Sandhu’s victory at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club, which came a day before his 29th birthday, set the stage for a superb run where he immediately followed up that victory with a play-off win on the Japan Challenge Tour the week after.

With that win, Sandhu joined an elite group of Indian golfers who have won on Asian Tour.

They include Arjun Atwal, Jyoti Randhawa, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Shiv Kapur, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Rahil Gangjee and Jeev Milkha Singh.

The competitive streak among his fellow compatriots simply brought out the best in Sandhu.

“We Indians have been having a really good run recently. If you playing well, it’s pretty easy to make the step up to the international level and it’s great to see so many of our compatriots doing well.

“It just spurs each other on,” said Sandhu.

Spur him on they did.

Sandhu became the second Indian after Bhullar to lay his hands on the Yeangder TPC title. The latter had won the event in 2012.

As fate would have it, Sandhu would finish the 2017 season in a career-high of 21st place on the Order of Merit.

It has been 10 months since Sandhu’s life-changing victory and that same self-belief still remains.

He continues to revel in pressure and has declared he wants to return to the winner’s circle.

“There’s always room for improvement and there’s still a long way to go. Every week that I tee up now is important, whether it is prize money, world ranking or Habitat for Humanity Standings. That’s what you want to play for because the pressure is always up and that’s a good thing.

“I want to win again. That’s my major goal. It is never easy to win but the self-belief is up because you know that you’ve done it before. It is easier because you know you can do it and that always helps,” said Sandhu.

Ends.

About Asian Tour

As the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia, the Asian Tour leads the development of golf across the region, enhancing the careers of its members while maintaining a commitment to the integrity of the game. The Asian Tour, through its membership of the International Federation of PGA Tours, is the only recognised pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia. This unique feature positions the Asian Tour at the pinnacle of professional golf in Asia; providing its events with Official World Ranking status. Tour Partners include Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Panasonic (Official Consumer Electronics), Habitat for Humanity (Official Sustainable Development Partner), ECCO (Official Footwear Sponsor), Titleist and FootJoy (Official Web Partner), Bloomberg TV (Official International Media Partner), Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese (Official International Media Partner), Wall Street Journal (Official International Media Partner) and Sentosa in Singapore which is the Home of the Asian Tour which also has an office in Kuala Lumpur.