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Dec 6, 1999

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Tigress in the Woods

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Tigress in the woods
Thank goodness for mama's babies. Irina Brar used to play tennis as a kid. But just for a lark she'd accompany her mum, an avid golfer, to the Chandigarh Golf Club. The 16-year-old doesn't remember how she first picked up the game, what she does know is that "once you start playing golf, there's no stopping". Certainly there's no stopping her now. Last week, Brar won the prestigious Siel Ladies Northern India Open Amateur Golf Championship at the Delhi Golf Club, the youngest ever to win it in its 32 years. And in a country that does not have a professional circuit for women, she's betting her future on the game.

"Turning pro is definitely on the cards," says this golfer of four years. Question is, how? Sponsors are not crawling out of the woodwork -- "My dad is my one and only sponsor" -- and though she's still young enough to say, "I'm an only kid and I'm treated like a queen", at the back of her mind is the gnawing realisation that her golf set needs replacing, and there's no money for it. After school, a golf scholarship to go abroad perhaps. For now, she's willing to do whatever it takes to stick to her game. Practise 25 hours a week. Drive straight to the golf club from school. Play until dark. Back home, finish home work. Morning, tuitions before school. Then back to the grind. With the earnestness that only a teenager could have, Brar explains: "I have to study quite hard since I'm in Class X, you know, but that's not a problem because I'm a good student and I'm still topping my class with 85 per cent." Seems like topping is almost a habit.

-Anna M M Vetticad

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