{"id":870501,"date":"2026-10-04T13:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/870501\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:34:18","slug":"pranavi-urs-draws-on-rory-mcilroy-nelly-korda-inspiration-for-asian-games-2026-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/870501\/","title":{"rendered":"Pranavi Urs draws on Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda inspiration for Asian Games 2026 gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Pranavi Urs saw her three-shot overnight advantage disappear with a triple bogey on the third hole of the final round at the Asian Games 2026<\/a>, her thoughts turned to Rory McIlroy.<\/p>\n

The Indian golfer remembered Rory McIlroy recovering from an early setback on his way to winning the Masters in 2025. The details may have been slightly hazy – McIlroy had actually made a double bogey rather than a triple – but for Pranavi, the memory served its purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, it\u2019s fine,\u201d Pranavi said referring to her triple bogey moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remembered what Rory did the first time he won the Masters. He started with a triple, I think, a double or a triple,\u201d Pranavi recalled after winning the women\u2019s individual gold in golf<\/a> at the Kasugai Country Club East Course<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was like, if he can go and win the Masters, so can you win the Asian Games<\/a>. So I think that kind of got me back into my lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether Rory McIlroy often entered her thoughts on the golf course, the answer was emphatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, I always think about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pranavi Urs did recover. After taking seven shots on the par-four third, she made birdies on the sixth, 10th and 13th holes and eventually signed for a level-par 70. Her four-round total of 15-under 265 was enough to win the title by one shot.<\/p>\n

The victory was all the more significant given the pedigree of the players chasing her. Pranavi Urs, ranked 291st in the world and yet to win internationally, held off Singapore\u2019s Shannon Tan, ranked 59th, and the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s world No. 6 Yin Ruoning, who shared second place at 14-under 266.<\/p>\n

Between them, Tan and Yin had 14 international victories, while Yin is a former world No. 1, six-time LPGA winner and the 2023 Women\u2019s PGA Championship major champion.<\/p>\n

And Rory McIlroy was not the only golfing superstar providing inspiration.<\/p>\n

When Pranavi’s birdie putt at the 13th found the cup, she was reminded of Nelly Korda, whose title-clinching putt at the 2026 US Women\u2019s Open caught the edge and travelled around the lip before dropping.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I thought about Nelly Korda when she won the US Open. That\u2019s how she won it,\u201d Pranavi said. \u201cSo I was like, if they can do it, so can I. It was either Rory or Nelly in my mind today.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were still some nervy moments to negotiate.<\/p>\n

Pranavi described her approach into the long par-four 17th as one of her best shots of the week, leaving herself with a relatively stress-free par. On the 18th, an awkward drive briefly had her wondering whether the ball would clear the water before she recovered with a well-judged approach after making a late club change.<\/p>\n

Even after holing out, she was not certain whether she had done enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t know I won until Shannon [Tan of Singapore] said, \u2018Well done\u2019,\u201d Pranavi said. \u201cI just knew it was either a putt to win or it was a putt to force a playoff, and all I wanted to do was obviously hole the putt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gold was made particularly special by the presence of her parents. For Pranavi, representing India and standing atop the podium fulfilled a long-held ambition of her mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I purely did it for my parents,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re here this week and it was always my mum\u2019s dream to have me represent the country and win, and then the national anthem and stuff. That was her Bollywood style, typical Bollywood mum. She wanted all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pranavi Urs also helped India win the women\u2019s team silver, but her individual triumph carried wider significance. Golf still competes for attention in a country where cricket<\/a> dominates the sporting conversation, something Pranavi has acknowledged during the Games.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, however, cricket had taken notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunny enough, Yuvraj Singh texted me this morning,\u201d Pranavi revealed. \u201cSo, it\u2019s nice to have that attention, it\u2019s deserved for the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take the fame for like five minutes and then get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Pranavi Urs saw her three-shot overnight advantage disappear with a triple bogey on the third hole of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-870501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}