Not the most popular game till a black
American player called Tiger Woods made the Championship rounds. Today Golf owes its
growing popularity to him. In many countries youngsters are taking to the game, trying to
emulate its greatest hero.Even in India, Tiger Woods is the topic of many a discussion, on
the greens or in the clubs - the exclusive haunts of the rich and the upper crust of
Indian society.Here in Bangalore too Tiger has his fans. Within the hallowed premises of
the Karnataka Golf Association, (KGA) are a bunch of spunky young men who spend the day
with the Who’s Who of Bangalore but go home to abject poverty. And dream of
becoming like Tiger Woods.These are the caddies of KGA - the guys who follow the golfer
around with his kit. |
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The bags are heavy
with over a dozen steel clubs in them.They silently stand behind the golfer after offering
him the appropriate club for the shot, or quips in with the odd tip.The KGA is an 18- hole
course spread over 135 acres. No mean job lugging the bag around. At the end of the day he
earns Rs 100. On good days maybe Rs500. |
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For Muniappa- aged 22, Moorthy - aged 24 and Srinivas - aged 23 caddies at KGA for the
last 12 years, this is the routine, four days a week. On the other three days -
Monday, Wednesday and Friday they go to the old driving range in Chalaghatta, part of the
early KGA, which has now been abandoned. To practice their golf.Because, all three
of them are professional golfers. They are not allowed to play on the KGA course because
they are just caddies and not members. So they run over to the old course to
practice their drives.They can’t afford to lose 3 days of caddy money. But if they
don’t practice, they won’t be prepared to play the big league tournaments.
And win, like Tiger Woods.
But 2000 has so far been a good year for them. In the Wills Open, just concluded at KGA,
Muniappa came 21st while Moorthy was tied at 22 with five others. At the Poona Open in
1999 Muniappa made the cut and came in 7th. All of them have participated in
Chandigarh, Lucknow, Delhi in 1996, Chennai in1997 and Jaipur in 1998, where they were
unlucky to make the cut (i.e. finish within the top 50 players).Except Srinivas who made
51st at Jaipur. No mean achievement considering that the competition has played in
every a major tournament, practices almost everyday and don’t have to worry about
raising money to travel to play the matches.
"To play in outstation tournaments like the Chennai Open, one should have at least
5000 rupees" says Muniappa, when we asked him what it costs and how they raised the
money. About 1000 rupees we raise from the members. But the rest of the 4000 rupees
we have to organise by ourselves, he says.
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