Malik — Man who put Indian golf on the world map

On returning to India, he became the first Indian to play the Northern India, at a time when only the British played and added another first by winning the trophy.

With such feats, he showed the way to many others, thus laying the foundation for an Indian golfing community. He also taught the game to his brother, IS Malik, whose photograph still hangs at the entrance of the Delhi Golf Club. Not only did IS win the All India, but his son Ashok — alongwith Billoo Sethi and Vikramjit Singh — holds the record for having won this championship five times.

As `the natives’ took to the game and clubs began to open their membership to locals, HS Malik joined the foreign service and continued playing when he had the time. According to his daughter, Harji, he had a lot of friends and would often get invited to participate in championships during his stay in England. And as his collection of club trophies grew, so did his dedication towards the game.

Both brothers went on to captain the Delhi Golf club, then the Lodhi club, and also headed the Indian Golf Union. They continued playing well after retirement and Harji recalls that the highlight of her father’s 78th birthday was the 78 he shot and the 78 rupees he won. "He played 18 holes regularly till he was 82," and always kept his swing in check. There were times when he would tell her to photograph his swing so that he could see what changes needed to be worked on and the first floor balcony was always littered with plastic golf balls.

Yet, inspite of his love for the game, he never pushed anyone to take to the sport. "I wish he had because I only started golf when I was 34 and always felt that if I had started earlier, I could have been much better. But he never did, that was not his style," she adds. Yet, in her own way, Harji has carried on where her father left off. She has not only contributed to ladies golf but is so busy helping out with tournaments held in Delhi that she has no time to take a holiday!

As a pioneer of the sport in this country, HS Malik advised all those who had benefited from the game to "put back something into the game that has given them so much… Golf will give you a great deal, remember, but don’t forget to put something back into it for the game is more than the player of the game." And he would know, for it had touched his life and changed the sporting future of a nation.

Last weeks results:
PGA: Bay Hill Invitational
Winner: Tiger Woods
EPGA: Madeira Island Open
Winner: Fasth
LPGA: Standard Register Ping
Winner: Charlotta Soenstam
Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf
Winner: Andy North & Jim Colbert
APGA: Indian Open
Winner: Jyoti Randhawa
Indians: Gaurav Ghei Joint third
Coming Up
PGA: Bell South Classic
EPGA: Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open
Senior PGA: The Countrywide Tradition
Buy.Com Tour: Buy.Com Louisiana Open
LPGA: no event scheduled
Golfer of the week: Jyoti Randhawa

Cool and collected, Jyoti put himself in a winning position yet again to take home the winners cheque from the Indian Open and move up to seond place on the APGA order of merit.