FROM MY DIARY…
FEBRUARY 19
By Brandon de Souza
t a recent get together
amongst
friends,
conversation veered
towards how the
game is getting
younger by the day
and the depth of the
junior golf scene
in the country. The
most obvious and
correct observation made was about how
Shubhankar Sharma has inspired the new
generation of golfers to take the plunge into
pro golf at an early age with immense belief
in one’s self. The success of Aditi Ashok at
an even younger age than Shubhankar has
brought a new sense of belief amongst the
girls and many juniors we keep interacting
across the country.
Young Karandeep Kochhar is already
grinding it out on the PGTI and putting in
decent performances with three top ¿ ve
¿ nishes in his short career. His best moment
though came as an amateur when he beat
a full ¿ eld of professionals at the PGTI
Players Championship at Tolly as a 17 year
old. He is one de¿ nitely one to watch out
for along with his city-mate Aadil Bedi &
Kshitij Naved Kaul. Aadil & Kshitij enjoyed
wonderful junior & amateur careers and are
now expected to lead the charge going into
the next decade.
Having watched Kshitij at close quarters
as he trains at Boulder Hills under Sake
Gangadhar, I have big expectations of him
going into the future as he and Aadil mature
into seasoned professionals.
A couple of years back, Shubham Jaglan
made nation-wide headlines with his twin
victories in Europe & US but it was really
satisfying to see the work and support offered
by Amit Luthra’s The Golf Foundation come
to fruition into making the young gun into a
polished diamond he is today. We need more
such promoters who pick out talents from
rural areas and give them the con¿ dence to
take on the world.
Diksha Dagar another junior talent
supported by The Golf Foundation went on to become the number one not just the junior but
lady golfer in the country and now destined
for a bright future on the Ladies European
Tour. The point I’m trying to make is that
there is enough talent in the country and
equipped with the right advice and approach,
we can actually start dominating junior golf
around the world.
The recent success of 14 year old Arjun
Bhati at the US Kids Junior Golf World
Championship in Malaysia was heartening to
see as US Kids Golf Foundation is conducting
excellent tournaments with India set to
bene¿ t from an organized junior competitive
events which give every age group golfer
a chance to beat the course. One name,
which deserves a mention having produced
36 G o l f P l u s 2019
FEBRUARY
consistent performances on the national
and international scene, is Raghav Chugh.
He is not only scoring Ws but also shooting
competitive scores across championship
layouts. A winner of the US Kids Junior
Golf World Championship in 2017 and Hills
Taiwan Junior Open, he was also a member of
the Gold winning Indian team at the Singha
Junior World Championship beating giants
like Jaan, Korea & Thailand.
The Junior national champion of the last
two years was ranked amongst the top 15
U-16 golfers in the world till December and
currently top 50 U-17 golfers in the world.
De¿ nitely a talent for the future as he keeps
growing, getting ¿ tter and improving his
overall game.
Subhankar Sharma