Back in swing

BENGALURU : When Asmitha Sathish tees off at Prestige Golfshire in the RBG Champions Golf Development Tour next week in Bengaluru, it marks her return to competitive action. This will be true for the majority of the golfers who will be featured in the three-day event. The amateur golfer from Bengaluru last featured in March and is keen to make it count in her first outing after the lockdown.

“I gradually started practising on the golf course from the end of May. It is always fun to play in a tournament, and more so, this time, as I will be competing after so many months. I am definitely excited to go out and play against fellow competitors,” said the 18-year-old, who made some arrangements, including nets to hit balls, in the lawn outside her house during the lockdown period. 

The event will consist of junior, teen and amateur categories for both boys and girls. So far, around 65 players have registered. The organisers want to restrict the entry to 75 due to the Covid-19 situation. Because of the prevailing situation, majority of the golfers are from Bengaluru while only a few from other states have registered. Strict protocols are going to be followed, where safety of the players is going to be paramount. For instance, no caddies are allowed, but they can make use of their family members to carry their bag or trollies around if they want to.

“No caddies are allowed from outside. Everything is restricted. There will be no food and beverage service but they will be given packed lunches. They will not be allowed to sit anywhere in the club house, so no mingling. Also, if there is rain and they have to evacuate the golf course, they will have to go and sit in their cars,” said tournament organiser Romit Bose, who also added that winners in the junior and amateur category will gain Global Junior Golf Ranking (JGS) and World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) points, respectively. 

Other safety measures like wearing masks, regular use of sanitisers, among others have been a regular feature for golfers during practice too. So, they are habituated by now in the greens. One such golfer is 17-year-old Ruhaan Bajaj, who started practising last month and is not worried about the new norms in place.
“It has been a lot of time since I last played a competition and I am really eager to play again,” said Bajaj, who will compete in the teen and amateur categories. “I never used a caddie. I have always carried the golf bag by myself and I am going to do the same this time around. I have been wearing masks while playing of late so I am already used to this as well.”