Never mind if Arjun Sharma had an amateur win under his belt when he turned pro in 2015. The Eastern India Amateur may have given the confidence “I was ready to compete with the pros”, but he soon realized “it was so different from playing the amateur tour”.
Like most, the grind began and continued well into the 2018 season, till the week of the PGTI Feeder Tour event at Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur. The omens were good after the maiden win in June. “There was a lot of belief. I was doing well on the Main Tour,” says Arjun.
YoutubeVideo:-‘My time will come,’ Arjun Sharma’s belief stems from life in the rough
Fate had other plans, and intervened during a basketball match. “I broke my elbow and it was a serious injury.” At that point, Arjun was in a good position on the order of merit, but being forbidden from lifting a club meant he had to abstain from November 2018 to March 2019.
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He could not keep his card and even missed the initial events of the next season. Since then, it has been a struggle to get better at golf and fitness. What kept him afloat is the determination to get a firm footing on Tour, which Arjun feels he deserves.
“Staying away from golf for four months made me mentally strong. The pandemic too was a blessing in disguise as I worked a lot on the physical and mental side under coach Jesse Grewal and fitness expert Sandy Parihar.”
Calmer on the course, borne out of the realization that he had matured as a player, Arjun put the learnings to use in the extended 2020-21 season. In some ways it was no different to the roller-coaster rides he is used to, but it remains his best season as a pro.
It isn’t just about the results and earnings this time. It has to do with some serious rallying. “I missed four cuts in a row which made me doubt myself. But I showed a lot of maturity the last few events as I knew I had to play well to make my card for next year, and I delivered when it mattered. I am proud of how I performed under pressure,” says Arjun. The pride in the tone is unmistakable.
The next step is to “win and move to a higher tour because I know I have the potential and I will keep backing myself”.
Photo Credit: Arjun Sharma
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