Golf is in safe hands with Kaps as head of PGTI

Kapil Dev

Golf may well be the final melting pot for many a top sports star. Cricketers, footballers, basketballers, tennis players et al. As they near the end of their chosen careers, they gravitate towards golf. The competition and the adrenaline keeps them engaged and hooked.

It was no different for Kapil Dev Nikhanj.

He dabbled in a bit of football, but once he hung up his cricketing boots, he went to hit few balls. He loved seeing the ball soar into the skies, just as it did when he smashed sixes and the ball disappeared into the crowds. He fell in love with the game. No surprise, as sport was his second nature. That was in 1994.

He progressed so fast that scribes like this one, even suggested he try to play the Asian Games. A couple of years later, he confessed to me, that he would love nothing more than donning India colours at an Asian Games.

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But Kapil was not made for golf alone. Cricket commentary, other business interests and a flourishing sports management company kept him busy.

Yet, by 1998 golf had become a passion, bordering on obsession. His handicap was coming down fast - it was said to be scratch at one time.

Over the next decade and a half, Kapil was the drawcard at Pro-Ams. Clubhouse tales of how he could beat the best in ‘minor' (sometimes more than minor!) money games at the club, abounded. All Kapil folklore. He just laughed.

Soon at golf clubs, he would seek out pros for tips - imagine Kapil taking tips!

At some point, it is not clear when, he felt the need to do something for golf. From just helping caddies he wanted to do more. From the amiable world of Pro-Ams, which he still inhabits, he was drawn towards pro golf.

In early 2021, I got a call from a common friend, Amandeep Johl, a pro golfer, to come for a golf press conference with Kapil. No, not another Pro-Am, I thought.

But I love this man, who with a toothy smile, held aloft that Prudential Cup in 1983, when I was but a crawling baby in the world of sports journalism.

The press conference announced Kapil had been inducted into the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) as a vice-president and was on the Board.

Indian golf was coming out Covid blues and needed a boost. The man, who once endorsed a brand by that name, provided just that - a boost for golf.

When he graced golf events, the media followed. He called up sponsors and they agreed to sign cheques. He convinced an international company Grant Thornton to put out R2 crore for a pro event; he convinced MS Dhoni, also a golf fan, to come for a prize distribution.

Kapil was now the biggest spokesperson and ambassador for Indian golf.

Late on Tuesday night on June 25, 2024, 41 years after he held aloft that World Cup at Lord's, the same friend called me up to say Kapil was ready to hoist Indian Professional golf on his broad shoulders.

Golf is in as safe a pair of hands as the one held the magnificent catch in the outfield, to tilt the 1983 World Cup towards India.

Welcome to pro golf, Kapil Dev, President of the PGTI.