PICTURE SPEAK

GRASS IS GREENER: Juniors tee off at the Delhi Golf Club

Call them babes with the woods but a clutch of Indian youngsters is roughing it out on the international junior golf circuit. Backed by pushy parents, motivated by the huge financial rewards the professional game brings and armed with talent honed in top golf academies in the US, they represent the future of Indian golf.

India has about 1,00,000 junior golfers playing at over 200 golf courses in the country. The participation in the 10 junior tournaments is increasing every year-an indication of how popular the sport has become among youngsters in India.

Ten-year-old Viraat Badhwar is already a veteran of many golfing battles: he came third at the Junior World Golf Championship in San Diego last year and was second at the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Tournament in Korea last month. Around the same time Ajeetesh Sandhu, 16, won a highly competitive scholarship for the Junior Fulltime Program at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy (DLGA) in Florida. Leadbetter is to golf schooling what Nick Bollettieri is to tennis.

PICTURE SPEAK

SWING AWAY: Sandhu

With the growing popularity of the game in India, an increasing number of young golfers are heading for golf academies in the US. Not only are the facilities and training infrastructure arguably the best in the world, but the courses are also customised to ensure that academic pursuits don't suffer. Tanya Wadhwa, 12, who is ranked No. 2 in world juniors, is currently on a four-year scholarship at the Leadbetter Academy. Wadhwa, who prides herself on having the same initials as Tiger Woods, was the winner in the 9-10 age group in the Callaway Junior World Championships in 2002. This year she was the youngest to qualify for the US Girls Junior Under-18 meet. A student of Vasant Valley School, Delhi, before she enrolled at Leadbetter, she manages to balance great grades with golfing prowess. "I practise from 8 a.m. till noon. After a 45-minute break, I study hard for five hours. Then it is two hours of school," says Wadhwa. Her prospects have inspired her parents to move from Delhi to Florida.

GOLF AND COURSES

There are more than 5,00,000 international students enrolled in US colleges and a number of these institutions offer golf scholarships. However, for every young golfer achieving success, there are several who return, disillusioned both by the golf and the teaching standards. It is not all glamour, and it's not for everyone-only the very best make it as pros. Also, it can be prohibitively expensive. The annual expenses at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, for instance, could set you back by $60,000 (Rs 26 lakh). The elitist Arnold Palmer Golf Academy at Saddlebrook does not offer a scholarship either. Besides, to get a ranking, players have to pay for their own travel and participation fees. Those who want to study and train in the US should write to universities that offer a good mix of academics and golf. To get a full scholarship, you need to be off a handicap of 2 or better.

Similarly, Badhwar's parents have sacrificed a lot to give their son the right training. A student of Delhi Public School, East of Kailash, he says his stint at the DLGA on a government scholarship has helped him improve his swing. Though playing in the US is no guarantee to a bright sporting career, it helps, says Busan Asian Games golf gold medallist Shiv Kapur. But life on the Purdue University campus, where he studied business administration in 2002, was not easy. His day began with a two-hour workout at 6 a.m., followed by classes till 1.30 p.m. By 2 p.m. he was back on the greens and practised for five more hours. Leading amateur Shruti Khanna, who studied economics at Rollins College on a golf scholarship in 1994, says the exposure is invaluable. Player-turned-coach Nonita Lal Qureshi says the USP of studying and playing golf in the US is the proximity to a tour with the biggest prize money. "Golfer students who compete at college level go on to play the pro tour. The American education system allows a student to excel both in academics and sports," she says.

According to Romit Bose, coach at the Delhi Golf Club, the age profile of golfers going to the US is getting younger. "Many of our juniors, including Wadhwa and Badhwar, have done well at the 7-and-under level. Moreover, after going to a US golf school, their chances of making it to an Ivy League college go up."

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Even without the lure of America, the growing popularity of the game, the huge sums of money a top pro can make and its high social profile have drawn children to the greens. In the north (Delhi and Chandigarh) and the east (Kolkata), juniors have flooded the golf courses. "Golf has become a career option. There is good money in it," says Karan Bindra, teaching pro at the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurgaon.

Qureshi says the top 10 pros on the Indian tour now make a lot of money. The top earner this year, Mukesh Kumar, made around Rs 30 lakh (the prize money on the Indian tour last year was Rs 3.05 crore). She adds, "In the past the pros were not making enough on the Indian tour. After Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh began doing well abroad, many middle-class children took to the game." Affirms Indian Golf Union Secretary-General Satish Aparajit: "The number of juniors enrolling with us has risen from 100 to 400 in the past five years."

PICTURE SPEAK

UP TO PAR: Wadhwa balances studies and training

The money on the Indian tour is still paltry compared with what the US tour offers. The weekly purse for an event in the US PGA is close to $3 million (Rs 13.2 crore). The figure for a similar Indian event is just Rs 10 lakh. Also, adds Bose, there is a big skills gap between Indian and American players. "In the college itself, a number of youngsters realise whether they have it in them to make it as pros.

For many, the scholarship is just a ticket to the US. But as Kapur and Wadhwa have shown, it is possible to overcome the challenges. It may need sacrifice in terms of financial outlay and cultural adjustments, but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. In other words, it is no handicap.

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