Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia (born 15 May 1978), commonly known as S.S.P. Chawrasia, is an Indian professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

er. Since 2008 he has won six

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...

events, four of which were co-sanctioned by the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

. He has had particular success in the

Hero Indian Open The Indian Open, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Hero Indian Open since 2011, is the national open golf championship of India, organised by the Indian Golf Union. Founded in 1964, it was added to the Asia Golf Circuit schedule in 1970. In ...

where he was runner-up in 1999, 2006, 2013 and 2015 and winner in 2016 and 2017. Nearly all his success has been in India; his only win outside India being the 2016 Resorts World Manila Masters. At the end of the 2014 season he asked the Asian Tour to change the spelling of his last name, previously Chowrasia, to Chawrasia, the spelling that is on his passport.

Early life

Chawrasia's father worked as the

greenskeeper A greenskeeper is a person responsible for the upkeep of a golf course. Their duties include all Horticulture, horticultural practices, as well as the setting of flag-sticks and marking of Hazard (golf), hazards. Other responsibilities typically ...

at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was at this golf course that Chawrasia picked up golf at the age of 10. The self-taught golfer is nicknamed "Chip-putt-sia" because of his short game.

Professional career

Before entering professional golf, he was a

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is a companion to the player, providing both practical support and strategic guidance on the course. Caddies are responsible for carrying the player’s bag, managing clubs, and assisting with basic course maintena ...

for a few years. After entering professional golf in 1997, his earnings at the end of 1998 were $1,220. Chawrasia finished second to

Arjun Atwal Arjun Singh Atwal (born 20 March 1973) is an Indian professional golfer who has played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour and is the first player born in India to participate in and win on the U.S.-based PGA Tour. Early life Atwal was bo ...

in the 1999 Indian Open held at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. He joined the

in 2006 after making steady progress in India with cumulative earnings being $36,983 along with eight Indian Tour titles. His first season in the Asian Tour had a good opening event in the Pakistan Open, top-20 finishes in Philippine Open and in China. This was followed up with a top-10 finish at Bangkok Airways Open. At the Mercuries Masters in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, he led the field by five shots at the halfway mark, but was disqualified for forgetting to sign his scorecard. At the 2006 Hero Honda Indian Open, he narrowly missed out on winning the title. The title that won by Jyoti Randhawa, was decided by a play-off. He ended 2006 with a tenth place in

Volvo Masters The Volvo Masters was the concluding official money event of the European Tour season until 2009, when it was replaced by the Dubai World Championship. The event was founded in 1988 and held at Valderrama Golf Club in Andalusia, Spain, except fo ...

. After being one stroke behind the leader on the opening day of the 2007 Malaysian Open, he lost ground and ended up finishing tied for 16th at the end of the tournament. His Asian Tour ranking improved from 38 in 2006 to 32 in 2007. In February 2008, he won the inaugural Indian Masters, which was a part of the

2008 European Tour The 2008 European Tour was the 37th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972. Changes for 2008 There were four new tournaments, the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters, the Ballantine's Ch ...

. The event, which he won with a score of nine under par, earned him £239,705, which doubled his earnings over the past decade. He was the only player to achieve sub-par rounds on all four days in this, the biggest golf event in India. Chawrasia, ranked 388 in the world before the tournament, obtained a two-year exemption on the European Tour. After

Jeev Milkha Singh Jeev Milkha Singh (born 15 December 1971) is an Indian professional golfer who became the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998. He has won four events on the European Tour, becoming the most successful Indian on tour. H ...

and

, he became the third Indian golfer to win on the European Tour. Shortly after his victory, not only was he ranked 161 in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

, but also he topped the Asian Tour Order of Merit. In February 2011, Chawrasia won his second Asian Tour event, the Avantha Masters in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Since then he has won the Panasonic Open India in 2014, the

and the Resorts World Manila Masters in 2016 and the

for the second time in 2017. Chawrasia qualified for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

as the second highest ranked Indian player, representing India along with

Anirban Lahiri Anirban Lahiri (; born 29 June 1987) is an Indian professional golfer. He has played on the Asian Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf. He was awarded the 2014 Arjuna Award and was also the recipient of the "Sera Bangali" award in 2015, gi ...

Awards

In August 2017, he was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.

Professional wins (18)

European Tour wins (4)

''*Note: The European Tour considers the Avantha Masters to be a continuation of the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters, however the Asian Tour does not share this view.''
¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Asian Tour wins (6)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

²Co-sanctioned by the

Professional Golf Tour of India The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) is a professional golf tour for men based in India. The tour was formed in 2006, as the successor to the Indian PGA Golf Tour, which ran from 1997 to 2006. The PGTI serves as a feeder tour for higher l ...

Asian Tour playoff record (2–2)

Professional Golf Tour of India wins (4)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

PGA of India Tour wins (9)

*2001 Singhania Open *2003 HT Pro Golf, Tata Open, Hero Honda Open, NGC Open *2005 Singhania Open, Tata Open *2006 Singhania Open, Hindu Open

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' "T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Professional *

EurAsia Cup The EurAsia Cup was a biennial men's professional team golf tournament between teams representing Europe and Asia. It started in 2014, superseding the Royal Trophy which had been played from 2006 to 2013. It was previously held at the Glenmarie ...

(representing Asia):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing India):

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chawrasia, Shiv Indian male golfers European Tour golfers Asian Tour golfers Olympic golfers for India Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Golfers from West Bengal Recipients of the Arjuna Award Sportspeople from Kolkata Golfers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India 1978 births Living people