At nine, Mohali's Gairat scales new peak at Augusta

Gairat Kaur Kahlon wrote a significant piece of history for Indian golf when she became the first player from the country to qualify for the Drive Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club.

- Joy Chakravarty

AUGUSTA:

The nine-year-old from Mohali was among the thousands of junior golfers who took part in the 348 Local Qualifiers across the 50 states in America. She won her 7-9 age category, then won in one of the 62 Sub-Regional Qualifiers, before becoming one of only 10 players in her age group to showcase her skills at the most venerable golf courses. That too during the week of the Masters.

On Sunday, she became only the second Indian woman to play at Augusta National (Avani Prashanth twice featured in the Augusta National Women's Amateur). Only four other Indians—Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal, Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma—played at the Masters.

Despite the significance of her presence here and performing in front of a large crowd that included several superstars of the sport, Gairat was never overawed by the occasion, never missed a shot and never looked like she wasn't enjoying every moment of the competition. And yet, the competitor in her was disappointed.