Seldom do people outside the golfing circles go on to play the sport seriously and make a mark.
But for farmer-turned-contractor Sreeramappa and his children Rashmi and Manoj, it was love at first sight on a casual day out at the Eagleton Golf Resort 11 years ago.
Since then, the Magadi Road residents’ day starts at 3.50 am for a two-hour practice at the golf facility in Bidadi before heading to school and back to Eagleton at 4.30 pm for another training session. With the resort closed now, they make a 100 km journey five days a week to the ‘To The Tee Golf Academy’ near Hosur. Years of the same routine, day in and day out, has helped the now 14-year-old Manoj grow as one of the top contender’s in the under-15 boys’ section on the Indian Amateur Tour.
The ninth grader of The Great International Public School has claimed three category B wins (Bengaluru, Vishakhpatnam, Kolkata) and an overall A&B title at the Tollygunge Golf Club in Kolkata apart from finishing runners-up in Noida and Pune this year.
Currently playing the IGU All India Junior Boys And Girls Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association, the teen shot an opening round of one-under 71 but had a bit of an off day on Wednesday with a seven-over 79 to lie second after two rounds. Incidentally, it was at KGA in 2013 that he won his first ever tournament as a five-year-old.
Speaking about the long journey thus far, Sreeramappa said: “It was my dream to make my children sportspersons especially in an elite sport such as golf because I come from a village and never had all these opportunities.
“Though the culture and environment of the sport is on the opposite spectrum compared to our lifestyle, golf isn’t too different from agriculture in terms of its values,” expressed the father from Madugiri in Tumkur district where they grow jasmine and rear silkworm.
The values he talks about is keeping daughter Rashmi from not giving up. The 17-year-old was the first to make amends on the junior circuit and the IGU tour a few years ago before a slump in her form almost forced her to quit.
“To stay grounded and work hard irrespective of the result are qualities that are ingrained in every farming family. So I have learnt to treat the ups and downs on a golf course in the same manner,” said Rashmi, a second year commerce student at the Mahesh PU College. With a healthy competition going on between Manoj and Rashmi - who idolise Rory Mcllroy and Nelly Korda respectively - the sister-brother duo hope to overcome the hazards to keep climbing the ladder.