Fairway of promise: Hitaashee Bakshi and the rise of Indian girls’s golf

For a short whereas, it seemed just like the drought of a house winner on the Hero Ladies’s Indian Open golf would lastly be over. Within the 17 seasons of its existence, the marquee occasion of the game within the nation has solely had one Indian lifting the trophy.

That didn’t occur, and Hitaashee Bakshi faltered when it mattered most on a dramatic last day that noticed hold-ups, swinging fortunes and surprising outcomes.

With near 120 golfers from 31 international locations in motion over 4 days in the midst of an unexpectedly clear October, the event has come a great distance from its humble beginnings. In some ways, it mirrors the expansion of girls’s golf in a rustic that continues to see it, together with just a few different sports activities, because the area of the privileged.

“We began the Ladies’s Golf Affiliation of India in 2004 as Champika Sayal’s brainchild to have an expert tour for girls within the nation. We had some nice gamers like Anjani Desai and Nonita Lall Qureshi, however they have been amateurs; it wasn’t attainable for them to hold on taking part in and make an revenue out of the game. We began with 4 to 5 women, placing in ₹10,000 every, together with Satish Tandon, who was our first president, to get it off the bottom. The primary Indian Open was in 2007,” WGAI president Kavita Singh instructed  Sportstar.

From 79 entries again then with a prize purse of $100,000, the occasion has grown right into a $500,000 event this time round. From solely being an Asian occasion to being co-sanctioned by the LET (in 2010) and drawing entries from all the highest European nations, it’s been a gradual rise for the occasion and for girls’s golf. The inclusion of the game within the Olympics has helped improve its visibility and, extra importantly, ensured that it’s taken critically as a sport.

Twist within the story: Shannon Tan, who began the ultimate spherical seven pictures off the lead, gained the title in probably the most dramatic manner attainable.
| Photograph Credit score:
Women European Tour

Again then, India’s high golfer Smriti Mehra was already a veteran of the skilled world, ploughing a lonely furrow as the primary Indian girl on the Women Skilled Golf Affiliation (LPGA) Tour — the top-drawer circuit in golf — manner again in 1997. On Sunday, golf lovers’ hopes rested on a 21-year-old in her first full season on the LET.

Hitaashee had began nicely on the ultimate day, a few birdies and a three-shot lead retaining her within the recreation by the primary 4 holes. However the final-day jitters caught up with the teenager. Three bogeys in a row have been adopted by a horrendous double bogey on the par-5 eighth gap. Play obtained held up for nearly 20 minutes as gamers and referees debated whether or not her tee shot had landed out of bounds earlier than rolling into the water or throughout the course line. She ultimately needed to trudge again to the beginning for her third shot and by no means recovered.

England’s Alice Hewson, a part of the chief group with Hitaashee and Pranavi Urs, risked little and stayed regular with a few birdies, parring the remainder to cruise forward, closing in on the trophy whilst her closest competitor, Shannon Tan, sat within the clubhouse ready for the formalities to be accomplished earlier than flying house because the runner-up for the second 12 months working.

As an alternative, the 21-year-old Singaporean, who began the ultimate spherical seven pictures off the lead, noticed Hewson first hit her tee shot into the water after which miss a simple putt for a double bogey on the final gap, to be handed the title in probably the most dramatic manner attainable.

For the house followers, nonetheless, it was the efficiency of the Indian golfers that held promise. 4 Indians within the high 10 was unimaginable even just a few years in the past, regardless of Aditi Ashok’s victory manner again in 2016 as an 18-year-old. Aditi, now an everyday on the LPGA — the one Indian on the tour — even got here near a historic Olympic medal in Tokyo earlier than a heartbreaking fourth-place end.

Regular focus: Pranavi Urs in motion in the course of the last spherical of the Hero Ladies’s Indian Open in Gurugram. The Indian completed among the many high contenders on a dramatic closing day.
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

Take into account this: when the first-ever skilled tour was launched in October 2006, it included 5 legs for a prize purse of ₹6 lakh with 5 gamers. This 12 months, the Ladies’s Skilled Golf Tour of India has 13 legs with 54 gamers vying for a complete prize cash of ₹229 lakh. Sitting fairly on high of the India Order of Advantage is the skilled Vani Kapoor, with 4 wins and earnings exceeding ₹16 lakh. Vani, who has by no means missed a minimize in her 13 appearances within the Indian Open, admitted it has been a studying curve. “It makes me really feel actually happy with myself that I’m nonetheless right here, nonetheless giving them a battle. Clearly, I’m doing one thing proper and that’s actually good. After I began there have been fewer women and the organisation and all {the golfing} our bodies have been additionally rising with us — we have been gaining expertise collectively,” she mentioned.

She agreed that perceptions performed a giant function and wanted to alter. “There’s this false impression that golf is an elite sport; the federal government positively thinks so. That’s why they don’t present that a lot monetary assist to golfers. However most people who find themselves taking part in golf don’t come from wealthy backgrounds. Right now, if I don’t have just a few sponsors, I can’t be taking part in golf. One can not attain one’s true potential as a result of we have now so many constraints. Additionally, I’m a agency believer that each company home ought to help a sport. And then you definitely see the outcomes. You want help not simply after you change into a star, however earlier than,” she shrugged.

Kavita, nonetheless, is aware of it’s a protracted highway forward.

“Within the early days, we obtained no help from the federal government in any respect. I used to be turned down brutally by the sports activities minister and the tourism minister. We nonetheless barely do. If it weren’t for the company sector, it might have been very powerful. However I would like an Indian woman to win — possibly within the Olympics, possibly right here. There’s no lack of expertise in our nation. It’s about self-discipline, consistency, and arduous work. And the starvation must be there. However I actually hope we get an Olympic medallist,” she declared.

Revealed on Oct 24, 2025