Golf sensation Aditi Ashok finished her rookie season as professional golfer ranked 113 in the world— a jump of 358 places. She was recently declared the Ladies European Tour's (LET) Rookie of the Year after a stupendous year which included two back-to-back tournament wins and nine top 10 finishes. The Bengaluru based teenager became the first Indian female golfer to qualify for the LET and register victories in it. She continued to create history by becoming the lone Indian girl to qualify for Rio Olympics in the sport's debut at the Summer Games.
The 18 year old has also conditionally qualified for the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour in the United States—she will be only the second Indian to play on the tour after Simi Mehra.
In a bid to increase India's presence at the LET, seven Indian women golfers have reached the final stage of Ladies European Tour Qualifying School. These include top amateur golfers like Vani Kapoor, Amandeep Drall, Sharmila Nicollet, Anisha Padukone, Saaniya Sharma and Neha Tripathi.
2016 has indeed given a lot of reasons to cheer for women's golf in India. While Ashok has been the main reason for the upbeat mood, it also the push that the Women's Golf Association of India (WGAI) is giving to realising its own set of goals that is yielding the results.
There is no that doubt Ashok is the poster girl for Indian women's golf today. “Aditi's journey as a golfer started as a 9 year old and its been a fantastic journey. Lots of young players are able to see today that they can also do what Aditi is achieving,” said Champika Sayal, secretary general of WGAI, just ahead of the 100th All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championship currently underway at the heritage Delhi Golf Club.
Sayal credits the success of Ashok to all the correct moves made by the girl's parents—from planning her career well, taking right decisions at the right time to keeping their confidence in their daughter's ambitions. And this has resulted in spectacular results. “Her parents planned a good career for her. Aditi (and they) knew at a young age pretty much what she wanted to do,” said Sayal.
Ashok was beating pros and seniors like Simi Mehra at the age of 13. She had already won the Amateur National Championship by the time she was 15. “She was given exposure at a very young age in competitions like Queen Sirikit Cup where she gained lot of confidence. These were international events but with smaller fields,” said Sayal, adding that career planning plays a crucial role in the transitioning of golfers from amateur to international quality levels.
The WGAI – the apex body for women's professional golf in India—is very young in comparison to the men's pro tour. The concept was mooted by Sayal who was a former chairperson of the ladies section of the Indian Golf Union (the apex body governing golf in India). India's three leading lights in women's golf—Anjana Desai, Sita Rawley and Nonita Lall Qureshi too were brought into WGAI along with corporate backers like Kavita Singh of DLF and Pawan Munjal of Hero Motocorp. 12 years after, the Women's Pro Tour in India today constitutes 16-18 events annually and the total prize money is Rs. 1.10 crore.
Why WGAI cites Aditi as the “icon” of for women's golf in India is because the sport has dealt with very high attrition rates. “We have seen Indian girls use the amateur tour to get a golf scholarship in United States in the past. But last five years has shown that we have groomed players who are willing to stay back in India, become pros, better golfers. Those who come back after the golf scholarship have also maladjusted to the situation in India. Aditi and Vani have shown they were right in staying back in India and improving their golf,” said Sayal.
Her parents- Ashok – a businessman—and Mash—a top HR professional—chose to give the best possible training and opportunities to their daughter while based in India. It has worked. She was sent to the Olympic qualifying events while she was an amateur. “Aditi spent two years qualifying for Rio at international events which were also part of her amateur career,” said Sayal. While WGAI funded some events, her parents chose to fund their daughter's participation in other international events. WGAI gives Rs.2 lakh subsidy to top four players in its Order of Merit to go and qualify for LET events.
The WGAI runs its own Caddy Training Programmes. Interestingly, it tries to curb attrition by training those who are unable to continue playing due to injury, marriage or other reasons as referees and coaches etc. “We want our players to remain in the system even if they stop playing so that the future generation can be groomed by own home grown golfers,” signed off Sayal.
