A foot fracture opened up golf as a potential career option for Suchitra Ramesh (13), a class VII student of Bangalore’s Greenwood High School. “In 2006, I fractured my right heel and the doctor prescribed playing golf to hasten the healing process. Once I started playing, I liked the sport so much that I couldn’t stop even after my foot had healed. And it so happened that a coach spotted me and told me I had great potential. That’s how it all started,” recalls Suchitra, after winning the Clover Greens Charity Tournament on February 4 in Bangalore, in the 0-15 handicap category. Four days later, she added the winner’s (girls) trophy of the 4th Callaway Juniors Tour Qualifier to her crowding mantelpiece.

The year 2011 was exceptionally good for this budding star of the golfing greens. She was ranked No.1 by the Indian Golf Union in the girls under-12 category and won the Toyota Etios North, South and Eastern India Juniors last December. She was also runner-up in the Usha Delhi Open and the Western India Juniors.

Suffering her fortuitous foot fracture when she was just eight, Suchitra honed her skills in Seoul, South Korea, where her father R.K. Ramesh, general manager of the Bangalore-based Toyota Kirloskar Motors, was posted between 2007-09. In Seoul, she came under the tutelage of Stephen Moriarty, a world-renowned golf instructor.

“Now that I’m in Bangalore, he is still my coach and advises me via V1 Pro software (video swing analysis system), which makes it possible for him to provide feedback on my play via online videos,” says Suchitra.

Acknowledging her parents enthusiastic support, Suchitra says  her mother Uma is her most ardent supporter. “She’s my mum, PR person, friend — all rolled into one,” she says, while also attributing her success to a rigorous practise regime of two and a half hours on weekdays and five hours on Saturdays.

Hooked on her unwittingly chosen sport, this promising youngster is set to make it her profession. “I want to be a professional golfer. Golf is coming back to the Olympics in 2016 in Brazil and I want to represent India in the event. I also want to wear India colours in the 2014 Asian Games in Korea. But these ambitions require intelligent training and preparation. In the short term, I have my sights set on winning the Usha Delhi Ladies and Junior Girls Amateur tournaments in Noida on April 16,” she enthuses.

Fore!

Rutaksha Rawat (Bangalore)