Dated: Thu 27th December 2007 Posted by: Vijay divecha
SUMMARY OF THE YEAR GONE BY – 2007 A Year of Pride for The South Zone While I am chilling out and enjoying my end-of-the-year vacation, away from Bangalore, I cannot but help reflect on the year gone by. While I lie on a hammock in some jungle, I also cannot help but think about the year ahead and what we would have to do to get ahead.
The year 2007, has been a threshold year for our zone. In 2002, when we started The IGU-KGA South Zone Junior Golf Development Program (SZJGDP), we had dreamt and had visions of creating champions of the future. In the year 2007, we are actually seeing some of our dreams and visions becoming reality! While I lie on my hammock and think about the year gone by, I have to pinch myself to ensure that I’m not dreaming and am wide awake. It seems so unreal when one realises ones dreams and visions and one has to be careful that one is not hallucinating.
To put things in perspective let me start with where we were in 2002. We only had juniors in our program – with none ranked in the top five. Sounds funny doesn’t it? Obviously, we would have only juniors….. after all it is a SZ Junior Development Program. Today, we have a Professional Golfer who is a product of our program. Someone who dominated the Amateur Circuit in 2006 and 2007, and then won the Qualifying School to get his card for the PGTI Circuit. And after three tournaments he is in the top 15 on the PGTI Merit List. We are proud to have Anirban Lahiri as part of our Program and he still attends our Excellence Coaching Camps. He continues to give back to the program and those of us who know him are aware of what a good guy he is. May the coming year make his dreams come true ……… and ours too!!
As soon as Anirban turned pro—Abhishek Jha (Dino to all his friends), who was No.11 on The IGU Amateur Merit List at the beginning of the season showed us what he is capable of. Within six months he has emerged at the top of the Merit List and lets hope he finishes No.1. Abhishek has now represented India at various Golf Championships in India and abroad. If he does finish No.1, it will be the third successive year that a South Zone golfer has topped the Merit List of the IGU. Never happened before---ever!! Lets hope Abhishek realises his dreams – and ours too!!
Our Chikka (Chikkarangappa to those who do not know him) has of course not been far behind in his quest for laurels. Besides dominating the IGU Junior Circuit in the B Category, where he came from zero to No.1 in his first year, he has also represented India Juniors at various Golf Championships. A major achievement for him was third position at The Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship in HongKong. As if this was not enough, Chikka came third in the Selection Trials for the Nomura Cup and became the youngest player ever to represent India at the Amateur level!! I hope Chikka’s feet are still on the ground because in the latter half of the year he has travelled to more countries than the fingers on his hands. May the coming year make all of Chikka’s dreams come true …… and ours too.
During this season, Rahul Ravi ( Rahul Da) to all of us has emerged as the No.1 on The IGU Merit List in the C Category. Trishul Chinappa was selected for the Faldo Series Finals at Mission Hills in China. Syed Saqib Ahmed is making his presence felt on the Merit List in the B Category. Khalin Joshi is coming into some good form and hopefully will be in a good position on the Merit List by the end of the year. Roshan Raj, Akash Srinivasan, Akshath Vidyanath, Vashista Pawar and Shivnaren Srinivasan are progressively showing good performances. May all their dreams come true …………. And ours too!!
In the year 2003, we had a dream of having a South Zone Junior Circuit which is also a reality. The circuit is fulfilling its objective of providing juniors from the South an opportunity to test their competitive skills and gain valuable competitive experience along the way. The contribution of the clubs that host these tournaments is invaluable. The Ooty Gymkhana Club, Coorg Golf Links, The Bangalore Golf Club, Karnataka Golf Association, The Madras Gymkhana Club, The Eagleton Golf Resort, The Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club and The Hyderabad Parents are doing work which cannot be measured. These clubs are contributing in a very big way towards creating the champions of the future. More than this they are contributing something which is much more precious – the warmth and hospitality that they provide to all of us – juniors, parents, grandparents and officials – it is something money cannot buy. All of them do us proud and motivate us to do better. When we attend any of these events we are provided with an opportunity to meet and interact with each other. The South Zone Junior Community has become a strong and responsible one with the juniors, parents and grandparents contributing to the warmth and the feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves.
As a community we are growing stronger by the day and I wish to acknowledge the role of the parents in this growth. We have shown the rest of the country – where parents are BANNED from the golf course during junior events – the meaning of responsible behaviour. We have shown the rest of the country that all the children playing out there on the golf course are “our children”, and that we will behave in a responsible manner in all situations which will make us and our children feel proud of our behaviour. I feel especially proud about the fact that this year parents were involved in the running of the tournaments as volunteers and this added so much positive energy to our circuit. Lets make all our dreams come true.
This year also showed us some feats of guts and perseverance on our circuit. We feel proud that our juniors participate in all tournaments – even if they don’t win. This shows us their strength of character and the good values of their upbringing. The ability to do your best without any reward is the true mark of a sportsman. This our kids have demonstrated throughout the year on numerous occasions – we are proud of you. Shreyas, Nikita and all of you who I cannot physically name here – you are the reason we all are motivated to work harder.
I would be failing in my duty if I did not mention Mr.Dilip Thomas, Mr. K.N.Shanthkumar and Mr.Raian Irani who are the guiding forces and the people in charge of this program. Every success is a feather in their cap. The vision and maturity with which they lead this program is the reason why our program is successful.
Having sung all our praises, I come down to earth when I fall off my hammock with a thud!! In all the excitement of our achievements I lost my balance and fell. In the coming year we will have to put all this behind us and build on the foundation which we have laid. This is dream and vision land, and we will have to dream first before we can start the work involved in making our dreams into reality.
I dream of our players emerging at the top on every merit list in India, Asia, Europe and America!! You may laugh but so did everyone when we started our initiative in 2002. I dream of our Junior Circuit having entry levels of 200 juniors in every tournament. Go ahead laugh – we started with 30 in 2003! I dream of our community growing from strength to strength and urge all parents to attend atleast two to three events a year. I dream of parents carrying bags (caddies) for their children during tournaments – please don’t laugh – this might become a reality in 2008. I dream of the South having some of the best coaches in the country – we are making a serious effort towards this -- Tarun Sardesai of KGA and ShivaMurthy of Coimbatore Golf Club are shining examples of emerging top coaches.
Our dreams and visions show us the way forward and our work plans and schedules are decided by these dreams and visions. So from my hammock deep in some jungle – here is bidding farewell to 2007. The boys are still playing in Delhi at The All India Juniors Sub-Junior Championship and lets hope they have a good finish to the year. And here’s looking forward to a happy and prosperous 2008.
May your golf give you happiness and enjoyment.
ANIRBAN DOES US PROUD AT BILT OPEN
HYDERABAD JUNIORS DATES and ACCOMODATION DETAILS
A MEETING WITH JEEV MILKHA SINGH
CHIKKA IS 15 UNDER AFTER 3 ROUNDS AT THE WESTERN INDIA JUNIORS IN PUNE
LATEST SOUTH ZONE MERIT LIST AFTER MGC JUNIORS POSTED
IGU - Change in address and phone numbers
IGU AMATEUR & JUNIOR TOURNAMENT CALENDER
SZ performers in the 2007 IGU MERIT LIST