The 20th Annual Golf Outing of the South Asian Golf Association (SAGA) took place on September 21, 2024, at Cobblestone Creek Country Club in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, attracting over 70 passionate golfers.
Renowned for its exciting competition and friendly atmosphere, the SAGA Open has “established itself as a premier event for the South Asian golfing community. Using a handicapped-based scoring system, players of all skill levels are in contention to win the year-long competition,” stated a press release from SAGA.
This year’s tournament commenced with a shotgun start, where both experienced players and enthusiastic newcomers had the opportunity to compete for prestigious prizes, including a Mercedes-Benz for a hole-in-one, generously sponsored by Mercedes-Benz of Princeton.
The highlight of the day was the Anish Joshi Memorial Trophy, presented to the overall 2024 SAGA Tour Champion. This trophy comes with a one-week vacation to any destination worldwide, a donation from Dr. Anil and Mrs. Anju Joshi, parents of the late Anish Joshi, a former member and devoted supporter.
Deep Thapliyal was honored as the winner of the Anish Joshi Memorial Trophy. Here are the other winners from the SAGA Tour 2024:
For Flight 1, Deep Thapliyal, Varun Malhotra, and Amit Parekh took first, second, and third place, respectively.
For Flight 2, Niraj Desai, Jassi Singh, and Shashi Gautam took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, respectively.
For Flight 3, Ankit Patel, Haresh Majmundar, and Jayesh Parikh claimed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Ronak Patel, who reduced handicap from 20.3 to 14.7, was declared Most Improved Golfer.
In other SAGA Open 2024 Highlights, Low Gross Score was carded by Santosh Hanumaiah with a score of 75 (Winner with Tie-breaker, tied with Abdhullah Vohra).
Closest to the Pin claimants were Hole #2: Tito Singh (6′ 9″); Hole #4: Romil Bhagat (18′ 4″); Hole #7: Amit Sud (1′ 9″); Hole #11: Jassi Singh (5′ 4″); and Hole #14: Santosh Hanumaiah (8′ 5″). Closest to the Line: Hole #13: Rajeev Chaudhary (3″).
The statement further elaborated that the UnitedHealthcare Cup was awarded to the victorious SAGA ‘The Gate Squad’ Team, led by captain Deep Thapliyal. His team, consisting of Amit Parekh, Varun Malhotra, Shashi Gautam, Sachin Mally, Sanjay Seth, Ashish Shah, and Uday Patel, celebrated a hard-fought win, rounding off an incredible day of golf.
The SAGA Board and Tour Committee are dedicated to maintaining competitive integrity within the sport. As part of SAGA’s commitment to nurturing young talent, three outstanding students received the SAGA Junior / Anish Joshi College Scholarships, each worth $1,650, for their academic and golfing accomplishments. They include Tanya Chowdary (Bentley University, MA), Tanvi Samayam (Nova Southeastern University, FL), and Vikram Bajaj (Stonybrook University, NY).
SAGA Founder and President Mahesh Yadav expressed gratitude to all participants, sponsors, and volunteers for making the event successful and memorable. The awards reception included dinner, dancing, and raffle prizes. SAGA also acknowledged the support of sponsors such as UnitedHealthcare, NJ Group Services, Prajapati & Company, Optima Global Solutions, and TV Asia.
