How a sports psychologist helped Pranavi Urs win an Asian Games gold

If sports psychology looks like a luxury at the elite level, Pranavi Urs has an answer. It could be the difference between an Asian Games gold medal and nothing.

The 23-year-old had little sleep the night before the final round at the Kasugai Country Club East Course, and her anxiety wasn't helped by a triple-bogey 7 on the third hole, which wiped out her three-shot lead going into the last day and handed the edge to World No. 6 Yin Ruoning of China.

That is where her work with her sports psychologist paid off. "Going into the final round of any big event, you are bound to be nervous because you care so much," Pranavi told The Indian Express on Monday. "I had a session with my psychologist before the final round, where we trained my brain for all the possible scenarios and focused on having fun out on the golf course."

Preparing for Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong) worked to her benefit."It (triple bogey) was the worst thing that could have happened. I told myself that I had hit rock bottom and the only way from there was upwards. I just had to stick to the gameplan."

The preparation did its job. Pranavi caught Yin with a birdie on the 10th, went ahead with another on the 13th, and did not give up the lead after that. Not that Pranavi suffered from a lack of confidence going into the competition.

"Whenever you enter a tournament, you want to win, not just participate," she said. "But to go ahead and actually do it was surreal."

The psychologist's contribution was vital to the biggest title of her career so far. She is in her third season on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and, despite contending several times, has not quite taken the final step.

What's more, her teammate Aditi Ashok had an unenviable history at big events. At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, she held a seven-shot lead going into the final round before a 5-over 77 relegated her to the silver medal. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she was second going into the final 18 holes, but finished just outside the medal positions.

No negative vibes

Pranavi said the topic remained off-limits during team discussions. "I've known both Aditi and Diksha (Dagar) for a long time. I've always looked up to Aditi. I've played together with Diksha. All three of us are good friends and in good form. When we came together at the start of the week, we were confident that we will definitely win a medal," she said, preparing to board a flight out of Japan.

"I didn't ask for any advice from Aditi, and certainly didn't bring up those two final rounds in our chats. We're friends, why would I do that? We talked about everything other than that during our dinners together."

Though Aditi (14th at two-over) and Diksha (tied 23rd at 12-over) didn't do as well individually as they would have liked, the Indian women's team did clinch a silver medal behind China.

India's first women's individual golf gold at the Asian Games is likely to give the game a shot in the arm, and could help the golfer from Mysuru in her own development.

"I'm in a better headspace now and feel more confident now. This gold medal is definitely a boost for me. The next step is to win on the LET," she said.

That she beat some of the top players in the women's game augurs well for her growth. Apart from Yin (World No. 6), bronze medallist Shannon Xuan Yin Tan of Singapore is the 2025 LET Order of Merit winner.

"It's great to win an event beating such players and a good sign that my career is going in the right direction. Now I have complete clarity that my game is in great shape and good enough to win big events," said Pranavi, who will play the Women's India Open at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon later this month.