BENGALURU: Over the last few years, many young golfers have tasted success. While Chikkarangappa S and Khalin Joshi are some of the notable ones, there is a new kid on the block — Viraj Madappa — who is also making a name for himself. The 19-year-old from Kolkata was India’s No. 1 amateur golfer back in 2015.
Rewind to 2005, when he was a seven-year-old kid, Madappa, however, was nowhere close to the sport. He never drew inspiration to play golf and he was his family’s first to play the sport, besides his cousin CG Somiah, who is also a professional on the tour. “I was a fat kid and my father used to take me to swimming classes at Tollygunge Club in Kolkata. After the classes, I used to run to the 18th hole at the golf course. Seeing others play I took an interest. My father enrolled me in a junior programme under Indrajit Bhalotia and I started playing,” he said.
Madappa was quick off the blocks and produced some good performances at a young age. At 15, he tasted his first overseas success when he won the Taiwan Open in 2015. At 17, he was ranked 45th in the world. He became the first Indian to take part in the Porter Cup in the USA, thanks to his rankings.
His story may not be as inspiring as Chikka’s, but that fat kid, however, has grown up to be one of the fittest and promising young golfers in the country. After spending a year in the US, he joined a college in Bengaluru last year and switched his coach from Indrajit to Tarun Sardesai. Thus his journey began as a professional golfer. After turning professional on the PGTI tour this year, Madappa has been slowly getting into the groove. On the pro tour, he has finished in Top 5 twice — at Pune Open and at TAKE Classic in Ahmedabad, which concluded recently. At the TAKE Solutions Masters, his first Asian Tour event, at KGA course in Bengaluru last month, he was in the title hunt for the first two days, before slipping to T38 on the final day.
While it has been difficult for him to manage golf and studies, he has set himself a target to earn an Asian Tour card. Before November he has to win one out of four events to get into Panasonic Open India which is an AT sanctioned event. “I’ll play in Jaipur Open and PGTI Players Championship in next two weeks. I have been in good form lately so I think this is my opportunity to go a step higher and convert top 5 finish to a win. For now, AT is the target I have set,” Madappa said.
krishnendu@newindianexpress.com