For Bhupinder Singh Hooda, game of golf as easy as politics

Bhupinder Singh Hooda hadn’t prepared to golf, and certainly not in a ballroom full with 300 high-profile guests. But the Haryana chief minister took the putter, rolled the ball over the green carpet and got it right into the hole, to a massive audience applause. Better late than never.

Certainly,in a sport that ages with grace. Gurgaon, over the last few years, has become a hub and this time, the occasion was the first INDIA GOLF AWARDS powered to recognise and celebrate excellence in the sport of golf. Hooda admitted that the sport deserves a government boost, given how many new golf courses were coming up.

His views were echoed by the other guest of honour, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. Montek is otherwise a regular on golf courses and the one thing that stands out about him is that he prefers a green turban to an office blue. “I think the catch lies in getting more and more public golf courses for the country to promote this sport,” he insisted. But those words didn’t stop the moderator from taking a dig at inflation and point out to Montek that “golf was suddenly looking affordable as prices of golf balls and onions were suddenly comparable”.

But where there was no disagreement is that golfers deserved recognition. The sassy Gaganjeet Bhullar won the best pro award. Gagan said: “It’s a high time in Indian golf. It’s a great initiative.” The People’s Choice award went to Anirban Lahiri while the awards for Global Recognition in the sport went to Shiv Kapur for making headlines by leading the first few holes of the British Open 2013 on the first round and to Arjun Atwal, who is the first Indian to win on the PGA Tour in United States.

Atwal’s contemporary Daniel Chopra was also present at the evening and gave away some of the key awards, including the one for the best golf course to Delhi Golf Club, the place he grew up learning to play. Unfortunately, for India, the sport has been eclipsed by cricket mania and support for it has been slow to take off. Pawan Munjal of Hero, Gautam Thapar of Avantha Masters, DLF, are among the few who stand by for support for it. Munjal’s company is behind hosting India’s longest running tournament Indian Open which is why he received the award for outstanding corporate contribution to golf.

It was the first time that India’s corporate honchos were recognised for their game — Puneet Chaddha, head of asset management at HSBC in India, Aditya Khaitan of McLeod Russel, the world’s largest tea company, and Vijay Chauhan of biscuit giant Parle. “We need to fill the most important missing space in the golf scene in India,” said Khaitan.

Shaili Chopra is an award-winning business journalist and founder of www.golfingindian.com