Late bloomer tailoring own course to prominence

CHENNAI: N Thangaraja was surveying the scene from inside his house in Colombo. Sri Lanka was in the last throes of the war and things were changing gradually. It was 2006 and the life he had accepted — a tailor who had set up shop inside his house — was also changing.

A spanking new golf course — Waters Edge —  had opened right next to his house. Thangaraja became a part-time caddie. He had no interest in playing the game. But curiosity won the day and he also met a willing teacher, wife of the owner of the course.

He received his first golfing lesson at the age of 26, when most people in the sport have earned enough to sustain themselves for a few years. But not Thangaraja, who stopped studying after Class X. At 26, he knew only two things. Tailoring. And maintaining his physique in a gym. He gave up both when he turned professional in 2013.

It’s fair to say it’s been a good decision. He has earned more than `70 lakh, the fifth-highest earning foreigner of all time on the PGTI circuit. And if his start at the Chennai Open is anything to go by, a nine-under 61 to lead the field by three strokes, he is on his way to adding a few more lakhs to his purse. How does Thangaraja, a man who has a smile for every occasion, put things in perspective? “Never really thought I would go on to have such a life... build a house, buy a car, it’s nice.”

It wasn’t nice, as expected, during the initial stages. “I didn’t want to play golf but the (Sri Lanka Golf) Union kept pushing me so I became one (pro).” He missed cuts in four of his first five meets but knew he had gone to the point of no return. A win at the PGTI Players Championship to close out 2013 provided all the motivation to stick around his ‘new love’. He has won only once more — at the Players Championship in Panchkula in 2015 — and has endured wild swings in fortune. For instance, at this event in 2016, he shot a 10-over 80 in the first round and missed cut. Inconsistency, perhaps, is another hallmark of his game.

He hopes that will change after Shiv Kapur gave him one of his drivers during the TAKE Open Championships at Bengaluru last October. “I never used to have a good feeling with my drivers. That negative vibe has gone. With his driver, I am feeling very positive whenever I tee off.”

Thangaraja, who represented his country at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, is enjoying a fine recent run. After an impressive seventh place at the Tata Open in December, he finished second at the Golconda Masters last week. Capitalise on the good start at the Madras Gymkhana Golf Annexe, and he will definitely be on to something.

swaroop@newindianexpress.com
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1. N Thangaraja -9 (SL); 2. Shamim Khan -6; T3. Dipankar Kaushal -4, Vikrant Chopra -4, Mukesh Kumar -4.