PGTI’s 72 The League flips the script on individual golf, asking players accustomed to solo pursuit to navigate team strategy, auction valuations, and formats they’ve rarely experienced on home soil.
Indian professional golfers spend most of their careers alone. Alone on the range, alone on the course, alone with a scorecard that acknowledges no teammates, no substitutes, and no one to blame but themselves. So when six franchises assembled at Saturday’s opening ceremony for 72 The League — complete with auction price tags, team jerseys, and match-play pairings — the shift was not just tactical. It was existential.
“Golf is a very individual sport, but right now you have nine other guys behind you,” said Viraj Madappa, who represents Kolkata Classics after an 18-month layoff due to a back injury. “You have a lot of people you want to do well for.”
Auction Anticipation, Instagram Refresh, and a Perfect Prediction
Honey Baisoya, the league’s most expensive domestic buy at Rs 20.50 lakh, remembers the morning of the auction with unusual clarity. He was playing a practice round at Tollygunge Club, hours away from the bidding room, refreshing Instagram between shots to track the proceedings.
“On the morning of the auction, I messaged my friend Veer [Ahlawat] saying that I have a feeling I’ll go for Rs 20 lakh,” Baisoya said. “In the end, it turned out exactly like that.”
The moment was more than financial validation. For Baisoya, who currently leads the PGTI Order of Merit and recently won the DP World Players Championship at Qutub Golf Course, the auction was a public reckoning of value in a sport that rarely quantifies such things so bluntly.
Formats Indian Pros Rarely See at Home
The league will be played in match-play format, featuring singles, four-ball and foursomes contests — structures that occupy a narrow corner of Indian professional golf. Most domestic events are stroke play affairs, grind-it-out tests of consistency over four days. The League’s format, by contrast, demands adaptation, improvisation and a willingness to strategise collectively.
“The camaraderie within the team and how we would strategise in the team format is really interesting,” said Shaurya Bhattacharya, who was pre-selected by UP Prometheans and finished third on the PGTI Order of Merit in 2025 with two wins. “The feeling behind this week for me is excitement, but at the same time, it would be a very competitive tournament.”
At Sixteen, Singh Steps Into the Spotlight
Kartik Singh, 16, is the league’s youngest participant. Picked up by Mumbai Aces for Rs 14.40 lakh at Monday’s auction, he turned professional last September during the Indian Golf Premier League and is now in his first full year on the PGTI. For him, 72 The League represents not just competitive exposure but a crash course in formats most professionals do not encounter until deep into their careers.
“This is my first year on the PGTI and I’m very grateful that I’ve been selected for the league,” Singh said. “It will be really interesting playing the match play and the foursome, four-ball styles. It’s all a really different format than what we normally play. It will make the game a lot more interesting.”
The Ryder Cup Dream, Adapted for India
Madappa, who has navigated the solitary grind of professional golf for years, framed the league in aspirational terms. “As golfers, we always have a dream to play the Ryder Cup format, but the President’s Cup is as close as it gets for Indians,” he said. “Here, we have a format very similar to that and to play for something bigger than ourselves is very exciting.”
It is a telling reference. The Ryder Cup, golf’s most storied team competition, is the domain of European and American professionals. The President’s Cup, which pits the United States against an International team that can include Indians, remains the highest team-format ambition for most players in the field. This league, modest by comparison, offers a domestic rehearsal for that distant stage.
Twelve Countries, Three Courses, One Untested Premise
The league will feature 12 overseas players from various countries, adding an international dimension to proceedings. Play will unfold across three Delhi-NCR courses — ITC Classic Golf & Country Club, Jaypee Greens and Qutub Golf Course — beginning Tuesday, February 24, at ITC Classic.
Whether the format can sustain interest beyond its inaugural run, whether auction valuations translate to commercial viability, and whether team loyalties can take root in a sport built on individual achievement — these remain open questions. But for players accustomed to carrying their own bags, both literal and metaphorical, the chance to play for something larger than a personal scorecard is, for now, enough.