New Delhi: Kartik Singh, the All India Junior champion, who has racked a good series of results is the top Indian amateur at the end of 2025. Veer Ganapathy, son for former Indian pro, Rahul Ganapathy, as the only other Indian in the Top-200 of the world amateur. Kartik is ranked 124th in the world and Veer is 176th.
Among women Zara Anand at 416 and Mannat Brar, the all India Ladies amateur champion, at 428 are the two Indians in the Top-500.
Shubham Jaglan (295), Rakshit Dahiya (400) and All India amateur champion Anshul Mishra (498) occupy the third to fifth places among Indians.
In the women’s section, Yogya Bhalla (597), Saanvi Somu (686) and Guntas Kaur Sandhu (690) are third, fourth and fifth highest ranked Indians.
Rianne Malixi of the Philippines and Australian Josiah Gilbert have the distinction of ending 2024 as the highest rated Asia-Pacific players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
On the back of a banner year, 17-year-old Malixi has soared into third place in the women’s standings.
For his part, Gilbert, who turned 20 last month, has risen to 22nd in the men’s standings based on consistent performances for Auburn University in the US college system with five top-five finishes to his credit.
The highlights for Malixi were victories in the US Women’s Amateur and the US Junior Girls.
The World No. 1 is Luke Clanton of the US with fellow Americans Jackson Koivun second and Benjamin James third.
Among women the No. 1 ranked is Lottie Wood of England with Jasmine Koo of the US and Rianne Malixi of the Philippines third.
The strength in depth of the women’s amateur game in the Asia-Pacific is borne out by the fact that there are no fewer than 14 players from the region who will enter 2025 in the top-50 in the WAGR – seven Japanese, three Thais and one each from the Philippines, Malaysia, Korea and Chinese Taipei.
Joining Malixi among them are Malaysian Mirabel Ting (fourth), Korean Oh Soo-min (10th), Thailand’s Eila Galitsky (19th), Chinese Taipei’s Cindy Hsu Huai-chien (35th) and Thais Suvichaya Vinichaitham (40th) and Achiraya Sriwong (48th).
The Japan contingent is made up of Reika Miyako (21st), Yuna Araki (27th), Hinano Muguruma (32nd), Mamika Shinchi (33rd), Kokoro Nakamura (36th), Rin Yoshida (37th) and Ko Kurabayashi (44th).
In the men’s rankings, Gilbert is one of four Asia-Pacific representatives in the top-50, along with Thai Phichaksn Maichon, Singaporean Hiroshi Tai and China’s Chang Xihuan.
Chang took over as the number one male amateur in the world’s most populous country in October following Ding Wenyi’s move to the professional ranks in the immediate wake of his victory in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan.
