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Journalism of Courage
It is no secret that among Kolkata’s sports freaks, nothing sells even half as much as cricket. Today, it was the turn of ace golfer SSP Chowrasia to figure that out the hard way. Only this time, it was the media that was at fault.
SSP, as he is popularly in the country’s golfing circles, scripted a dream win in the Indian Masters at the Delhi Golf Course (DGC) yesterday. Even as the caddie-turned-pro golfer achieved the unthinkable and made India proud in the international golf community, there was hardly a flutter when the 29-year-old champion returned to his hometown this morning. The reason? The city’s sports reporters had their hands full covering the Indian Board’s IPL meeting at the Eden Gardens.
In a city where any and every move of Sourav Ganguly is closely monitored and the media and flashbulbs go up every time he shows up in public, there was little or no coverage from the media when it came to Chowrasia’s homecoming.
As the player touched down at the Kolkata airport upon his return from Delhi, there was barely a couple of TV channel crews awaiting his arrival. The frenzy was missing even as Chowrasia reached his south Kolkata home, which is located near the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC).
Finally, RCGC literally came to his rescue, hastily calling a press conference at the club premises, where the media showed up in numbers. Even as the sports fraternity kept marveling on the golfer’s rags-to-riches story, Chowrasia received a rousing welcome at the RCGC where the caddie community turned up in largr numbers and celebrated his victory at the club where he was literally brought up.
Reflecting on his success run, Chowrasia said that he has a soft spot for the caddies. “I always try to help out the caddies so that they can make it big,” he said.
The unassuming Kolkatan admitted that his golfing icon is Tiger Woods and pointed out that the one major trait that he would love to pick up from his idol.
“Tiger Woods knows how to keep his head cool in the final rounds. It’s something for many of us to learn—keeping cool when it matters the most in the final rounds. In the past, I have lost out on many occasions when I lost my cool in final rounds,” said Chowrasia, who now gets to play three years on the European Tour.
