Golfer Anirban Lahiri.
Credit: Reuters Photo
How many from Karnataka? A question that pops out at a time when India are fielding their largest ever contingent of 655 members at the 19th edition of the Asian Games. And the answer to that is 38.
Once a force to reckon with, the Karnataka presence during India’s campaign at global sporting events has, no doubt, dwindled over the years. However, all is not in a downward spiral with the swimmers and golfers coming to save the blushes at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Out of the seven Indian golfers who will tee off at the West Lake International Golf Course from September 28, five - Anirban Lahiri, Khalin Joshi, Aditi Ashok, Pranavi Urs, Avani Prashanth - are from Karnataka. Besides, the women’s golf contingent is an all-Karnataka (Aditi, Pranavi, Avani) team.
The individual sport, largely backed by private and corporate support, has over the years managed to build a culture of producing world-class players from here. But let’s pause right there because, to know the story of how Karnataka got to where they are today, we need to rewind a bit.
The hallowed turf of the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) is notorious for troubling even the best in the business. The many, who have been victims of its intimidating layout, and a fair few, who have braved to tackle its challenges, will tell you that one needs not something out of the ordinary to succeed but the attitude to do the simple things right.
And the reward of perseverance there goes far beyond a trophy won for conquering, what most golfers term in resignation, a near impossible task.
A 20-year-old youngster from Karnataka, unaware then of the effects his individual effort at a course such as DGC would engineer, displayed a fearless attitude to win the 99th All India Amateur Championship in 1999.
Mysuru’s Rahul Ganapathy became the first ever south Indian to capture the coveted prize in 99 years of tournament’s history. That there was nobody from down south, until then, making an impression on the Indian golf ecosystem became a revelation. But the lull that followed Ganapathy’s ‘victory of the underdog’ felt unsettling. And, over a drink one evening in 2002 at the Eagleton Golf Resort, Raian F Irani and Vijay Divecha brainstormed to address the issue.
“I was in the IGU’s (Indian Golf Union) junior committee member and was there as an observer for the junior event and Vijay as the coach of many kids participating,” begins Irani, an industrialist and an avid golfer and administrator. “We came up with a plan. First, to get all the golf clubs in South India to start a junior programme. Second, to start a tournament circuit. Third, to conduct high performance camps for the ones showing promise. When Mr Dilip Thomas (the then council member of IGU and a promoter of golf) heard about it, he jumped in to sponsor the entire tour,” he recollects.
Soon, the ball got rolling with several clubs in south India conducting summer camps. An IGU-sanctioned junior feeder tour with close to 10 events (in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kodagu, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Hyderabad) started followed by the South Zone Golf Development programme with Divecha at the helm of it.
One of the main reasons for Karnataka to become a frontrunner in this scheme of things was because there were more golf courses here as compared to any other southern state. Currently, Karnataka, with nearly 25 courses spread across the state, has the most in the country.
“We provided transportation, a few parents who travelled became the caretakers of the rest. The boys and girls played together that enhanced the quality of their games. Yes, Chandigarh and Delhi have taken over us in recent times, but it's fulfilling to see the seed that we sowed has given us a good harvest now,” says Irani.
Asian Games-bound Khalin, Aditi, Pranavi, Avani have all grown up competing on this tour. From S Chikkarangappa, Trishul Chinnappa, Aalaap IL, Sharmila Nicollet to the more recent Aryan Roopa Anand, Vidhatri Urs, Saanvi Somu, among so many others, formed a core group in making the programme a success while benefiting from it.
Yes, the systematic junior structure helped in identifying and nurturing talent, but equal credit goes to individual brilliance and their willingness to put in the hours that were well-supported by parents and various clubs, feels Paramjit Singh, a golf referee and manager.
“Take the example of Mercara Downs Golf Club (in Madikeri). They don’t charge a green fee for anybody under 18 years of age and if his/ her parents want to play with them, it is free for them too. I don’t know of any golf course in the country that has such a facility,” wonders Singh.
The role played by members and clubs in helping caddies-turn-golfers -- such as pros C Muniyappa, M Dharma and Chikka -- was instrumental in further attesting the state's significance in the sport.
India’s top women’s golfer Aditi, who is in the middle of her breakthrough year on the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tour, was the future potential adored by various clubs and their members right through her formative years. The 25-year-old, who now battles toe-to-toe with the Korda's (Nelly, Jessica of USA) and the Ko's (Jin Young of South Korea and Lydia of New Zealand) and the rest of the world’s best, is a home-grown talent - at the Bangalore Golf Club, one of the oldest golf courses in the world.
“Oh, the weather. It is so conducive for golf. Unlike many other cities in India, we enjoy the luxury of practicing and playing almost throughout the year. That helps,” says Aditi, back in Bengaluru for one of her longest stays (5 weeks) in years before heading to Hangzhou on Sunday night.
The current climate of golf in Karnataka appears to be enjoying its heydays, but what we have witnessed so far is just the tip of the iceberg, insists Chinnappa.
"If a little girl from a family with no affinity to golf, watches an Aditi, Pranavi or Avani, gets inspired and wants to pick up a club, the sport is still mostly inaccessible,” points out Chinnappa, who turned pro after winning the All-India Amateur Championship in 2014.
“So much more potential in the semi-urban and rural areas are going untapped. If this trend continues, then golf will always remain an urban elite sport either for the affordable folks or the caddies. The middle-class curse is glaring. We have to make more public golf courses and programmes to make it a mass sport. That's when we can unearth the actual talent base,” he suggests.
There is a lot more to do. There will always be so much more to do. Though Karnataka’s influence on Indian golf is unequivocal, the real affirmation of calling ourselves a golf crazy state will be when players from courses in Belagavi, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and other mofussil towns begin to emulate their counterparts from Bengaluru and Mysuru.
Hopefully, a kid somewhere in the state watching the five Karnataka golfers driving down fairways to sink tricky putts on greens for a shot at a medal in China will play catalyst to this change.