The scope of a sport

fresh Face

Champion Reef Golf Country, the newest golf course in Bangalore, recently signed on Sharmila Nicollet, one of the leading professional golfers in the country, as their brand ambassador.

“We felt that we couldn’t have a better or more genuine brand ambassador than Sharmila. She’s been practising and training at our course for a few months now and her shorthand has really improved,” says George Menonparampil, managing director, Champion Reef.

“We’re a very young player in this game and believe that golf in India is just beginning to take off, both as a sport and as a business. A recent survey estimated that the potential Indian golf population is 18 million players; today, we have 1.5 lakh players at best. That’s the size of opportunity in front of us. Golf tourism is almost a recession-proof industry, as well as a multi-billion dollar one.

 Every year, golfers around the world fly down to courses in Asia that are hotter, more humid and more expensive than Bangalore is. With more golf courses coming up, there’s no reason why the City shouldn’t feature as a golf destination in the future,” he adds.

On her part, Sharmila expressed her gratitude to the course for giving her a chance to improve her game. “I’ve been practising here every other week and my short game has improved considerably. It has world-class facilities — it’s equal to or better than any other course I’ve played on around the world.

When I checked it out, I was overwhelmed and impressed with the high-quality conditions and facilities. The grass in Europe is different from what we have here but this course offers that same bentgrass greens to practise on. It’s like my getaway zone,” smiles the golfer.

Also present on the occasion was Sharmila’s coach, Tarun Sardesai, who spoke about how Sharmila has matured as a player and finally gotten used to being a part of the European tour.

He has also partnered with the course to launch a ‘player development programme’.