STORY BY AKSH GUPTA

 

 

 

The faces of sports ownership are changing. 

 

Women Took Over Cricket Boxes. Now They’re Walking Into Golf.

 

For years, Indian sport looked the same from the top.

 

Men owned the teams. Men ran the rooms. Men became the faces of sporting ambition.

 

Then cricket changed.

Slowly at first. Then all at once.

 

People stopped asking why women were sitting in IPL owners’ boxes and started accepting that they belonged there.

 

Kavya Maran became one of the most recognised faces in IPL franchise ownership through Sunrisers Hyderabad, changing how audiences viewed leadership and visibility in Indian sport. Ananya Birla’s growing presence around Royal Challengers Bengaluru further reinforced the idea that women were no longer entering sports as symbolic figures, but as investors, decision-makers and brand-builders. 

 

 The image of women leading sports franchises no longer felt unusual. It felt inevitable.

 

And now, something similar is beginning to happen in golf.

 

Quietly for now.
But sports culture rarely stays quiet for long. 

 

Because Vega Jahajgarhia and Tanvi Gupta, the women leading Delhi Royals in Golf Rendezvous PRO-AM League (GRPL), are bringing something Indian golf has not really seen before.  Their approach feels noticeably different from how golf franchises in India have traditionally been perceived, bringing a more modern, visible and culture-driven energy into the sport. 

 

And no, this is not a symbolic headline.

 

That is the important part.

This is not a “women in golf” story written for applause. It is a business, branding and cultural story unfolding in real time.

 

Cricket already proved something important in India. Sports franchises are no longer just about scoreboards. They are about storytelling, visibility, influence, audience culture and identity. Owners today shape how teams are perceived almost as much as players do.

 

That shift is now reaching golf.

 

Golf’s Identity Problem 

 

For decades, golf in India has carried a certain perception. Premium. Elite. Respectable. But also distant. It stayed within courses, clubhouses and corporate circles without fully entering mainstream sports culture.

 

 

 

This is bigger than ownership. It’s about visibility, identity and influence. 

 

GRPL is trying to pull golf out of closed circles and place it into mainstream sports culture. 

 

Building More Than A Team 

 

Vega Jahajgarhia and Tanvi Gupta seem fully aware that modern sports audiences no longer follow teams alone. They follow personalities, philosophies and presence.

 

Which explains why the franchise has moved the way it has.

 

Professional golfer Jahanvi Bakshi brings credibility from the sport itself as team captain. Geeta Basra enters as Brand Ambassador, helping extend the franchise beyond traditional golf audiences. Even the content around the team feels cinematic and identity-driven rather than transactional. Even the messaging around the team speaks less about “winning trophies” and more about discipline, character and pressure.

 

That is not accidental branding.
That is franchise positioning.

 

And perhaps that is where the comparison with IPL ownership culture starts becoming interesting.

 

Not because golf is trying to become cricket.

 

But because golf is finally beginning to understand what modern sports culture looks like.

 

Visibility matters.
Identity matters.
Narrative matters.

 

People want teams they can emotionally recognise.

Delhi Royals seems to understand that earlier than most, shaping a franchise identity built as much on Presence, Prestige and Power as on performance itself. 

 

The New Faces Of Sports Ownership 

 

There is also something else happening here that deserves attention.

 

Women entering sports ownership in India are no longer entering quietly.

 

They are not appearing as ceremonial figures standing beside teams. They are becoming central to the franchise identity itself. They are influencing branding, communication, audience perception and commercial direction.

 

That changes the energy around a league.

 

And honestly, golf probably needed that energy.

 

 

 

Golf is stepping out of closed circles and entering mainstream sports culture.

 

Because if Indian golf wants to grow beyond niche circles, it cannot only speak to golfers. It has to speak to audiences. To culture. To younger viewers. To people who may never pick up a golf club but still want to follow the story.

 

Cricket learned that years ago.

Golf is only beginning to.

 

Which is why what Vega Jahajgarhia and Tanvi Gupta are building through Delhi Royals feels less like a team launch and more like an early signal of where the sport may be heading next. 

 

And maybe that is the bigger story here.

 

Not that women are entering golf ownership.

But that they are entering at a time when golf itself is trying to reinvent how it is seen in India.

 

Cricket opened the door years ago.

Golf may finally be ready to enter the room.