On a discussion over golf, Smriti Mehra is not one that needs an introduction. She was the face of women’s golf in India at a time when the game was taking baby steps in India. Smriti remains a source of inspiration for young girls seeking to pursue golf.
The manner in which Smriti went about her business opened new vistas for women in golf, and not just in India. She opened the flood gates of aspiration by becoming the first Indian to earn a card on the LPGA Tour.
The 2002 Malaysian Open winner is well into her forties, but is among the fittest athletes in the country, let alone golf. Smriti has an appetite for hard work and that has helped define her as a woman of strength and character.
Here are some interesting facts about Smriti –
- Smriti Mehra, India’s most successful golfer on the domestic Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour, was born on 21 May 1972 in Kolkata
- Smriti started playing golf for fun when she was 12. She took golf as her profession when she represented India in China when she was 16
- She represented India as an amateur from 1992 to 1994
- As an amateur, Smriti won the Malaysian National Amateur Championship in 1993. She started playing golf professionally in 1994
- Smriti is the first woman from India to become a member of the world’s leading golf tour for women, the U.S. based LPGA Tour
- Smriti played on the US LPGA Tour from 1997, with her career best finish as 4th at the 1998 Australian Ladies Masters
- She is the winner of Hunters Oak FUTURES Golf Classic in 1996 (Futures Tour) and also won Fyre Classic in 2004 (Futures Tour)
- Smriti won Malaysian Open in 2002, before she underwent shoulder surgery in 2005
- Smriti won the Women’s Professional Golf Player of the Year at the Hero-WGAI awards for 2011-12 season
- She was the back to back order of merit champion in WGAI for 2011 and 2012