BETWEEN SAND-TRAPS

But that was February this year. Just last Sunday, when Jeev Milkha Singh finally overcame that quirkily unlucky second-place fetish and trumped the competition at the Austria Open, it was the third European Tour victory for an Indian in this semi-finished season.

The week after Chowrasia’s dream run, Arjun Atwal, the original dare-me golfer from the country had swaggered to an edge-of-the-seat play-off win at the Maybank Malaysian Open. At the moment, Atwal is inching his way back towards the PGA Tour peak, 18th on the Nationwide Tour Order of Merit almost halfway through the season.

By his standards, Jyoti Randhawa has been a dampener, for the record though, he finished tied fifth at the fancy-named field PGA Championship the end of last month, and his eternal duel with Jeev for India’s top spot in world rankings swaps balance almost every week.

Jeev is currently ranked ninth on the European Tour Order of Merit, the Asian Tour list has four Indian names in the top-ten, three in top five.

Can it get rosier?

Maybe, but it certainly can get easier for the golfers. For two seasons, Chowrasia had chipped away at unfamiliar Asian Tour courses, spending what he earned and notching up consistent top 20s, charming smile and disarming humility never out of place. Somehow, the attempts at landing help with those rising bills had kept failing, till Royal Calcutta Golf Club, his home course, members decided to get together and chip in.

Then that half-wintry Sunday dusk, when India’s freshest European Tour winner entered the press room, he had just finished shaking hands with a CEO, who personally offered to pick up the tab of his impending trips to Europe.

The Chowrasia brand of dramatic breakthroughs are relatively rare… for any sport. Plus golf is a curious solitary case, where the usual sports federation role ends the moment you declare your intentions of taking your game really seriously and decide to turn professional. So how long can they keep chipping away, waiting for that fairytale to turn true?

“Golf is a fickle sport,” says Gaurav Ghei, who has literally grown up with the sport’s evolution in the country. “It is solitary, and it can be harsh, and that is the biggest challenge for a player. So, of course, it helps if you don’t have other things to worry about,” he says.

After the boys’ team won the silver medal at the last Asian Games in Doha, golf was graduated to the ‘priority’ category by the Ministry of Sports. But while that certainly came as a big boost, its purview extends only to the junior and amateur levels, under the Indian Golf Union (IGU). Once a pro, you’re on your own.

“It is an individual sport, so the backing and sponsorship will have to be individual-based, unless of course the government decides to do something for the pros,” Ghei says.

Jeev agrees. “See, what is required is the corporate houses to come forward more proactively. What you really need as a player is people coming to you when you’re playing well.” But what about playing in order to get better, for players to play on the developmental tours, second-third string tours abroad or qualifying schools?

Jeev has an idea. “Maybe they could form a team,” he says. “Put together a bunch of players and commit to them. The point is you need to do well to deserve sponsorship, but I think consistent performances on the Indian tour should then be thought of as good enough,” he says.

Ajai Gupta, tour commissioner of the PGTI, the body that runs the professional tour in India, and a former player himself explains. “There is obviously the element of success in landing a sponsor. But the criterion has certainly changed. Earlier, even a European Tour win, for instance, would not be good enough. So things have got better, but of course, the problem exists.”

What everyone universally agrees on is the government’s role in infrastructure development.

“Public ranges,” Jeev says, “is what is going to change the face of the sport.”

Ali Sher, who really broke the bastion first with his first of two Indian Open wins way back in 1991, and was then made an associate member (can play, can’t vote) at the Delhi Golf Club, says public courses will really be the biggest help. “If there are even 10 public courses, golf can reach cricket’s popularity levels,” he says, may be a trifle indulgent, but making the point nonetheless.

Gupta elaborates: “If you look at China, the infrastructure is huge, it’s just immense. Looking at the success India has seen without all that, you can well imagine what might happen with all of it.” Jeev adds his bit as he says, “You don’t need a lot of land for ranges. At least start with dotting public ranges across the country for people to have access to the thought of taking up golf.”

Then there is the coaching angle. “That is another area where government involvement could work,” says Gupta. “Everybody can’t get a foreign coach. We have some good coaches, but you have to work on keeping yourself updated, keep evolving,” says Gupta, who has coached some of the professionals himself.

One area where government help did work was equipment. “That has changed a lot over the years. It’s much easier to get equipment now, especially if it’s done through the IGU, I think it’s duty free,” says Jeev.

But even there, Ghei says there is scope of improvement. “Some of the better shoes cost upto Rs 25,000,” he says.

So with successful faces, just the right amount of glamour and an international audience that is beginning to lap up India as a golf market and a destination, the next step, as the sport tries hard to become the next big thing in India, say players, is putting the green matter in the right place.