EVERYTHING about Sharmila Nicollet is pink. Right down to her golf club, sporting generous splashes of fuchsia. And her hair! Pink and purple streaks. “And blonde as well,” she grins amiably. Sharmila Nicollet, the star golfer from Bangalore, is quirky. “I love loud colours,” she laughs, “Especially hot pink and green. I used to have green streaks too.” Contrary to what people expect, she is not “tomboyish,” she asserts strongly. Looking at her screaming pink nails, I have to agree.
Knowing is believing
The golfer is clearly elated after winning three legs of the Hero Honda Women’s Professional Golf Tour (with nothing less than four birdies in the first two legs), and ready to narrate her 19-year-old tale. “I have always been into sports since childhood,” she begins. The swimmer-rider-athlete and a state level hurdle player, no less, was introduced to golf at the age of 14 by a cousin. “I was playing it as just another sport then,” she explains. “I entered the amateur circuit at 14 and only after I started winning all games did I think about taking it up full time.” She plays the piano as well, and has completed four grades. “My father is French,” she chuckles, “I think music is in my blood!’’ She is not done, though, in terms of aspirations at least.
“I would love to become a fashion designer someday,” she muses dreamily and swears by Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Roxy. “I mix and match clothes all the time and love trendy stuff.” As is the case with many sportspersons, Nicollet has never known formal college, having dropped out as her “schedule wouldn’t allow it.” So for the girl from Bishop Cottons, it’s private schooling for now (Sports Psychology from Madras University) and she does admit to feeling a little left out.
“I don’t do what other kids my age normally do, you know. I was awarded a full scholarship to Berkeley and Duke,” she says almost wistfully (she was a rank student till the eighth grade). “My mum — she is from Andhra Pradesh, and no, I don’t speak the language — wanted me to go to Oxford !”
Model in the making
Having finished the fifth leg of the Hero Honda tour (“I was the runner-up,” she says), Nicollet is inspired by the likes of Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal. “I want to become a sports model,” she reveals, “and give golf the much needed face-lift. I want people to ask themselves, “Who is this girl?” when they watch me play.” Of course, she has received many offers to model. “But I declined them all. Modelling on the ramp doesn’t appeal to me,” she says candidly. But Nicollet knows her audience. “I want to grab the attention of even those who have no idea about golf,” she declares passionately. To her, Tiger Woods is the ultimate golfer. “His mental stamina is great. I watch videos of his matches, hopefully I will watch him play live sometime. I love watching other players when I go abroad. Their wins inspire me.
Annika Sorenstam, especially,” she adds. “I would love to be the female version of Arjun Atwal, who recently became the first Indian to win the PGA Tour!”
Ready for anything
A long-hitter, Nicollet says, “I’m very competitive.
I don’t buckle under pressure. It actually enhances my game. Even if I play badly, I fight it out. I always recall the first tournament I won with great pleasure. I won by 15 shots!” But the Asian Games in 2006 is something Nicollet will never forget. “It was an eye opener. I realised that the players I was competing against were very serious.
They had no social lives, a non existent education and only lived and breathed golf !” Her team (apart from two coaches) includes a ‘mental’ trainer as well who teaches her “how to handle other players and not get intimidated by them.” This is important, she points out, as 60 per cent of the game pertains to the mind while only 40 per cent is physical. She has no dietician. “Which reminds me, I have to get a nutritionist, I need to put on weight. I work out everyday but must learn yoga!” The golfer obviously knows what she wants. She works her club six days a week, mind you. “Almost like a day job,” she supplements. “I’m off only on Saturdays and I look forward to them.” TV doesn’t appeal to her (Entourage is an exception) but “downloading movies off the net” does. “I shop a lot.
I love it. I visit UB City often.” She drives a Honda Civic, ‘’all done up, with 19-inch chrome wheels’’ but one of her favourite pastimes would be “mixing chemicals.” “My family owns a perfumery. So I try doing something on my own.
Maybe if nothing works out, I’ll start creating fragrances.
That’s my backup plan!” The biggie she wants to land? “Participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics and bag a medal,” comes the reply from the golfer ranked number one in WGAI’s order of merit for 2009-10. “Also the number one golfer in the country hopefully,” she adds, “and launch my own designer collection as well.”