India’s Aditi Ashok went another milestone lifting the Qatar Ladies Open trophy. With her win she has now jumped more than 300 places in her rankings over the year (336 to be precise). She is now ever close to breaking int0 the top 100 in Golf. Her achievements don’t seem to stop any time soon, and India would only hope that it never stops. The girl who turned pro on the 1st of January 2016 has indeed made a very long journey in a very short span of time. Aditi is now ranked 132nd in the world.

When I was eighteen – I would be sleeping all day. If I wasn’t I’d be with my friends trying some sort of adult beverage or better still on the phone all night with a lover. Not Aditi Ashok – all of eighteen, and a lock for the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the year for 2016. Where does one begin this story? I digress, if only but for a moment.

Tours, technique and technological advancements

Ladies golf in the 1980s in India was at the behest of the whims and fancies of corporate. My own mother – then Mayura Malkani tried mightily for many years to make a name on the amateur circuit but had to quit even after winning an international tournament in Bangladesh (1987) for the lack of sponsorship. Her compatriots Simi Mehra (first woman to play on the LPGA Tour, still active on the Indian Tour), Vandana Agarwal (turned professional a few years ago in her forties – before that had a long and illustrious career representing India) and Nonita Lall Qureshi (coaching one of India’s best talents in Shubham Jaglan) all had great runs in their own ways.

Overly quoted Dylan won’t mind another Times are Changin’ moment – the 100 m Olympic freestyle timing from the early 1900s won’t even impress an eight year old today. In that same way, Aditi has what we call a great start to her career.

The old pros – the same ones who swear by Ben Hogan and Jackie Burke Jr distrust early success. In the early days a touring professional was considered to have had a great career if he (or she) won say five-six tournaments over a ten-year span. A lot of this reasoning falls flat in the face of the modern game. Technological advancements which began with Taylormade revolutionising the game in the 1990s (and too many ever since in my opinion) have changed golf forever.

It would not be wrong to predict that the average professional a few decades from now would probably carry a 50 inch driver, eight wedges and one putter to make up his set given how “hot” the golf ball has become. No spin from the rough also means you can be aggressive from the tee – because no matter where your ball ends up you still have a shot to the flag with fancy new fangled equipment which is designed specifically for you. Three-time major champion Nick Price once caused a controversy by saying that the golf clubs are so good nowadays that people in the top twenty in the world hardly practice anymore. The usually quiet Price had a point – everyone can hit it 350 yards and everyone putts equally well.

Aditi Ashok climbs to career best 132nd

Where does that put Aditi’s achievements then given the scheme of things today? A lot of “young” comes into the answer. Youngest to win the European Tour School – only Indian golfer to play the Asian Youth Games (2013), Youth Olympic Games (2014), Asian Games (2014) and who can forget the halfway lead she garnered at the 2016 Summer Olympics down South in Brazil?

Add to that list, she is the first Indian woman to win the Indian Open (we waited with a prayer on our lips for years, Jack Nicklaus always said the pinnacle of golf was winning the Open Championship at St Andrews – right here in India to be remembered you must win the Indian Open.)

Of course the above are all simply statistics for Wikipedia, no? Add one more – recently, she went back-to-back winning the Qatar Ladies Open to add to her National Open moving up 66 spots in the World Rankings to 132. The best time to win your second event is immediately after your first one. Beyond the physical and mental prowess you need to play this game for a living, you need what we call in North India – “junoon” or passion. Aditi has heart – the heart to dig deep into her mental makeup and deliver time and time again.

Consistency in the long-run?

What happens when the swing is off and the putts refuse to fall? The wait for the next round in an unfamiliar country with a craving for the comforts of home food can get to anyone. To answer the question about her consistency in the long run – one has to simply wait and watch her progress. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day – the same way golf is not as easy it seems. I always liken the game to archery or shooting.

Abhinav Bindra performed courageously in 2008, 2012 and in 2016 but he has only one medal to show for it. That is the nature of the beast in his sport where inches matter when collated over time on a blinking scoreboard – one moment you’re leading and the next you’re at the bottom. The proverbial sporting see-saw on display swinging you between heaven and hell as it pleases – can you hold on is the question?

Pros have spoken about how a win made them exhausted – an entire week of making the ball dance to your tunes can do that to you. Only someone like Tiger Woods forgets about the win – the way of the super achiever, the more there is to celebrate – the less the celebrations.

Consistency in the long run? Only time will tell that but for now we better start believing more in our golfers – girls like Aditi and her co-stars in Neha Tripathi and Sharmila Nicollet among others because the wins won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Image Courtesy: REUTERS/Andrew Boyers

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