The toughest and easiest days of a golf player’s career are when he is playing amateur. Expenses are low and you are focussed on making the cut for most tournaments which is essential to be eligible for scholarships. But then, you have no sponsors. Once you turn professional, it is tough, financially, for a couple of years. I was lucky that I got a scholarship from ONGC and they paid for most of my expenses while I was in high school. When I went to US, I was lucky that I was on a scholarship—the two-and-half years that I spent in college made me realise the importance of money. Most of the time, you start your professional career from scratch. In the US, most players are funded by their respective clubs. Once you start winning, the club shares part of your earnings. When I turned professional in 1993, my experience in the US came handy.

•Swadesh Talwar: There is a perception that only people from rich and affluent families can take up golf as a career. Comment.

The mindset has to change—the game can be played by people from all backgrounds. It all depends on the government—corporate sector funding is not enough. We need more and more public driving ranges. If you go to countries like US, Australia and Japan, they have 15-20 public driving ranges in one city. Apart from that, I guess a lot depends on players like us. If we do well, we inspire the next generation. The last few years have been good for us with players like SSP Chaurasia, Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur doing well—that augurs well for the game. And with the likes of Gaganjeet Bhullar, Rahul Ganjee and Gurbaaz Mann, the game is on the rise.

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