Celebrating Chikkarangappa’s inspiring story on his birthday

 Happy birthday Chikkarangappa

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Sep 30,2016: The young man with an infectious smile and an enviable game of golf, S Chikkarangappa turns 23 today. The village boy from Karnataka has an inspiring story of hope and determination, underlying his emergence as one of the best Indian golfers of this generation.

In this feature, we look at an  interesting series of facts and milestones related to this determined daily wager turned golfer.

  1. As a boy, Chikkarangappa would take up odd jobs around the Eagleton Golf Course to sustain himself. He started by picking balls around the course before going on to work as a caddy for less than a dollar a day.
  2. As he walked about the course, he developed a keen eye for the game. He started learning golf as a ten year old boy, mostly from watching other golfers at the club.
  3. Incredibly, his first club was hand crafted from the stem of a tree. Such was his love for golf even as he was a young boy.
  4. Chikka would rise at 0430 in the morning, trying to develop his basics by emulating the golfers he watched keenly at Eagleton. Chikka practiced in the dry fields around his village, adjoining the course.
  5. Even though Chikka hasn’t enjoyed the benefits of a formal secondary education, he speaks fluent English. He learnt the language, playing on the tour.
  6. Interestingly, Chikka lifted a couple of golf balls from Eagleton to begin learning the craft around the village fields. He used to dig up holes in the ground and use his hand crafted stem club to practice his swing and shots.
  7. Chikka’s first break came in the form of Vijay Divecha, the well-known golf teacher from Bengaluru. The coach spotted Chikka’s talent when he was just eleven and decided to take him under his wing.
  8. It took just two years for Vijay to turn Chikka into the number one ranked golfer in his his junior age group.
  9. Chikka became the youngest golfer ever to win the All India Amateur title when he did so in 2011. He was just 18 at the time, the youngest to win in 109 years of the event’s history.
  10. A Japanese friend and recreational golfer Kaneo Katou gifted Chikka with his first golf kit.

 

Anand Datla

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