EXCLUSIVE | ‘In actuality, it actually isn’t’: Asian Games gold medallist Pranavi Urs on golf’s ‘wealthy man’s sport’ picture

“A variety of non-golfers do not know what the game means or what it’s. And all of them simply assume that it is a wealthy man’s sport. In actuality, it actually is not.”Pranavi Urs, the 23-year-old from Mysuru, has simply returned from the Asian Games because the first Indian woman to win an individual golf gold. The medal has modified her place in Indian golf, however she is extra considering what it might probably do for the game itself.“I feel any medal for golf at this level within the {golfing} planet is nice for India. So I feel any medal, whether or not it is on the lads’s facet or the ladies’s facet, would have introduced much more consideration to the game, which clearly, on the finish of the day, is the purpose for us – to present again to the game and sort of make it world and develop it in India,” she instructed Timesofindia.com from Mysuru.“Because I really feel like in India, it is positively picked up in the previous couple of years, however it’s not the place it ought to be. And I feel getting this gold dwelling, and even the silver, I feel is an effective step and it is not off course.”

Women’s golf in India: Pranavi Urs desires extra consideration

That is an even bigger ambition than the medal sitting in her assortment. And Pranavi sees the ladies’s sport as an vital a part of it. “I feel the women are doing much better than the fellows globally. Four or 5 years in the past, there have been just one or two women on the LET (Ladies European Tour), with full standing. Now there are 5 of us.“So I feel to simply go on the market and inform everybody and make an announcement that the women are good, and that we’re higher than the fellows, and convey much more consideration in the direction of girls’s sports activities in India; and it does not must be golf.”

Her personal profession offers an example of that progress. In December 2025, Pranavi turned the primary Indian girl to win an expert open-field match in opposition to male golfers when she received the IGPL Invitational Mumbai. She shot a bogey-free 8-under 60 within the remaining spherical and received by two strokes.Pranavi’s Asian Games marketing campaign additionally introduced a staff silver, with Aditi and Diksha Dagar becoming a member of her on the rostrum within the girls’s occasion. Aditi had received particular person silver at Hangzhou in 2023, changing into the primary Indian golfer to win an Asian Games medal. She was additionally the primary Indian to win on the Ladies European Tour, has 5 LET titles, has performed at three Olympics and completed fourth at Tokyo, one shot off the medals.

Aditi Ashok‘s affect and the help behind Pranavi Urs

For Pranavi, Aditi has been a reference level since she was a junior. “Aditi is on a special degree. She’s my senior. I’ve regarded as much as her since I used to be a little bit child, since I used to be a junior. We have fairly comparable careers, other than the truth that I have never received on the LET but. She’s nonetheless the best golfer in India.”Pranavi’s personal profession started a lot earlier, at a golf course in Mysuru when she was six. The route since then has taken her by means of junior golf, the skilled ranks and the LET with help round her by means of all of it.

“I feel I would not have finished it with out my household. My household has been my greatest help. I’ve acquired a extremely good help system. I’ve my coach, my S&C coach, my psychologist, my physio. So I’ve acquired a extremely robust base, and I can lean on them at any time when I must. We’ve acquired a extremely good bond. Everyone will get alongside rather well. So I feel I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved due to my household and my help system.”That help is what she factors to when requested concerning the subsequent technology, somewhat than rankings or prize cash. “I simply need younger women to choose up a sport, like it, get pleasure from it, and have enjoyable with it.”

The cash has, nonetheless, become hard to miss after the 2026 Games. Karnataka Govt. introduced ₹1 crore for her particular person gold and ₹75 lakh for the staff silver. The IGPL introduced one other ₹1 crore for the person gold, whereas the Indian Golf Union additionally introduced a reward.For a younger golfer what is feasible within the sport, Pranavi believes the rewards could be an incentive too. “For somebody who thinks like earn a living or X, Y and Z … if that motivates them, then positive, so be it. I’m very pleased that it is all on the market in public for individuals to see what they will get in the event that they obtain one thing. So allow them to be motivated by that. I feel every to their very own, proper? I really feel like everyone has a special purpose and why they play the game.“

The triple bogey that examined Pranavi Urs in Nagoya

For all the eye that got here after the gold, the medal itself was in critical doubt on the third gap of the ultimate spherical. Pranavi had began the day with a three-shot lead. A triple bogey on the third wiped it out.“I feel I misplaced my lead, which was unlucky, not due to a foul shot, however I simply acquired unfortunate on the third. It was out of my management the place the ball ended up and what occurred.”She was one shot behind by the fourth, however her response was to not begin chasing each misplaced shot. “I used to be like, ‘You know what, it is tremendous. You’ve hit all-time low.’ I used to be one again on the fourth gap. And I used to be like, ‘You all the time love chasing. You’ve already hit all-time low. Just play fearless and you are able to do it.'”There was – she remembered – one other golfer, a certain Rory McIlroy, who had been in the same place.

The course of, she stored coming again to, was easy: keep affected person. “There was not a single second after I did not assume I used to be not going to win. You simply preserve doing what you must do, keep on with your course of, and simply be affected person, as a result of it is 18 holes. If I did not win on the third gap after what occurred, that is tremendous. It’s 18 holes.”She ultimately completed with a 70 for a 15-under 265, one shot away from China’s Yin Ruoning, a former planet No. 1 and winner of the 2023 Women’s PGA Championship, and Singapore’s Shannon Tan, who performs on the Ladies European Tour.

“All I needed to do was clearly gap the [final] putt. I do not keep in mind most of it. I used to be simply within the circulation. I keep in mind each shot, however I do not keep in mind it as a lot as I keep in mind the final half, as a result of clearly there are movies and stuff now.”And the power to remain in that circulation was one thing Pranavi discovered by spending the final three years enjoying on the LET, shifting between nations, programs and circumstances. The journey itself has develop into a part of the job.“I feel I’m extra skilled now as a result of I play in Europe. It’s totally different circumstances week in, week out. You’ve acquired jet lag, you’ve got acquired totally different locations, totally different rooms. You’ve simply acquired to waft. Just going with the circulation and adapting to no matter comes your manner – whether or not it is nervousness or something – simply having the ability to cope with it and transfer on.”

From Asian Games gold to the seek for an LET title

At the 2023 Asian Games, Pranavi completed thirteenth individually, and the Indian girls’s staff completed fourth. And that’s the place a lot of the distinction between Hangzhou and Nagoya lies for her. “It’s a psychological sport. You’ve acquired to remain targeted, you have to keep affected person.”“And, like I stated, simply sort of getting ready your self week in, week out and travelling across the planet, combating jet lag, combating being homesick and all of that has helped me develop into a greater particular person and a greater golfer.” she added.

Now, the one factor nonetheless lacking from her skilled document is an LET title. She has had a number of excessive finishes in Europe, however no victory but. “Every golfer has their doubts. If you are not profitable, you are like, ‘Will I ever win?'”, stated Pranavi, however Aichi-Nagoya has given her perception that she’s going to ultimately win.“I beat a planet No. 6, so if I can do this, I can win on the LET. Just be affected person, preserve doing what I’m doing, and ultimately I’ll win. Every golfer goes to win. You give 100%, 200%. That’s why golfers go to win. Eventually, I’ll win.”And then there’s one small matter of another first that she desires.“An Olympic gold.”