The legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev is now on the verge of making it big for himself in the field of Golf as well. He has been nursing a dream to represent India at Golf and now he has achieved it as he was picked along with Rishi Narain and Amit Luthra to represent India at the Asia Pacific Senior 2018 to be held at the Tom Watson Golf club in Miyazaki, Japan from October 17 to 19.
The tournament is for golfers above 55 and Kapil was obviously “excited” at making the grade. Expressing his feeling for the same, he said, “I am happy. Actually, I feel proud because I am going to represent India. It is a great feeling. Not quite different from the time I was picked to tour Pakistan (in 1978) as part of the Indian cricket team.”
A regular at the Delhi Golf Club, the former Indian all-rounder developed a liking for the sport once he stopped playing professional cricket. He also said that he loved football when he was still playing cricket but golf became his passion over the time.
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Cricket was a challenge as it’s never easy to score runs and scalp one of the batsmen in the business. Golf, however, was a bigger challenge for Kapil, while talking to Sportstar, he said, “At golf, you are challenging yourself. You are constantly trying to push your limits, looking to improve after every round. Cricket was different. You had to depend on your teammates. You may bowl a decent ball but someone may drop the catch. Or you may run out because of your partner’s fault. You are depending on someone in cricket. But you are on your own in golf.”
Getting to represent India again has got Kapil looking at giving his best. He said, “I know I am a natural athlete and the hand-eye coordination helped me become a good golfer. I had the cricket muscle which was good for golf too. I have played some good rounds at various points in my golfing journey but this was special. Playing good rounds for three consecutive days. It proved that my golf was not a fluke.”
When asked if he has been able to put the bowl in the hole in the first attempt, Kapil replied with an exclamation mark that he has done that fur time, thrice at the DGC and once at the Willingdon Golf Club in Mumbai.
