Swing like a millionaire
Money is a huge factor in professional golfand big pay cheques are coming into play
Money. No gas here. This is for real, and these 20-somethings are making a stash.
Gaganjeet Bhullar earned close to half a million dollars ($451,245, or around ₹ 2.4 crore, to be precise) on the Asian Tour last year. There was this month-odd stretch from the second week of September when Bhullar finished runner-up in Malaysia and won in Chinese Taipei and Macau. His earnings were $239,813 from the three events. Bhullar has clocked a little over $1.1 million from six years on the Asian Tour. There have been pickings in other currencies as well, like the €32,000 (around ₹ 22.5 lakh) he got for winning the 2011 Gujarat Kensville Challenge, a stop on Europe’s second-rung tour—the European Challenge Tour.
At home, the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) has been worth ₹ 62 lakh for him so far as he enters his seventh season of playing golf for a living. Factor in the taxes and the numbers stand out despite the dent. He turns 25 next month. Not bad for a fancy-free bachelor, you think?
Bhullar drives a limited-edition Mercedes-Benz (a sponsor till recently), carries a platinum card from Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and has lucrative financial arrangements with Hero MotoCorp, the Jaypee Group and golf equipment maker Titleist. Money drainers, like jetting around the world, hotels and sundry playing and coaching expenses, are all taken care of by the sponsorship deals. So the earnings stay in the bank for Bhullar to dispense with as and when he pleases. Gets better, doesn’t it?
He has invested in real estate (“the only safe bet for Punjabis”) and the family home is now a villa in Kapurthala, a departure from the official quarters at the Rail Coach Factory there.
“As an amateur, it was about playing for national pride and honour,” he says (Lahiri’s father is an army doctor and mother a professor in English literature, and a Fulbright scholar).
Once the transition was made to professional golf, money became a huge factor. Like the time early on in his career when he was playing the PGTI Players Championship in Kolkata and was scheduled to play two Asian Tour events after that. With ₹ 60,000 in the bank, he had to make money that week. He finished second. In 2010, a little over $13,000 from the Cambodian Open, the second-last event of the season, secured him his playing card on the Asian Tour. The goal now is the Rio Olympics in 2016. As for money, the “by-product” has helped him finish off the home loan on a three-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Bangalore and he has bought his mom a place in Pune. Lahiri is 25.
He drives a Maruti Swift bought from the army canteen, the rear seat riddled with holes from his golf clubs. “I come from a family where nothing runs by itself (read business). Considering my background and being an only child, it was hard for my parents to let me chase my dream. So I appreciate their backing and value where I am today. Splurging doesn’t come naturally to me.”
He can afford a change of heart, given the number of logos he carries on his self—Hero MotoCorp, Shubhkamna Advert, Panasonic, BlackBerry 10, Ballantine’s, golf brand Srixon and, his sentimental favourite, Gati Cargo and Logistics, who have backed Lahiri since his amateur days. The endorsements do help considering expenses round off to about $2,000 per event on the Asian Tour.
Playing on home soil doesn’t entail small change either. It costs anywhere between ₹ 8-10 lakh a year, according to Ajeetesh Sandhu—if you travel economy and stay in budget hotels. Sandhu doesn’t have a sponsor but his golf game has come good. He won the DLF Masters last November for his biggest pay cheque so far of ₹ 15.35 lakh, beating Jyoti Randhawa in a shootout. He finished the year with ₹ 26.6 lakh, good for sixth place on the PGTI order of merit.
“I love the game and if I play well enough, the money will come. You can’t think of money on the golf course. If you do, you are in trouble,” he says. After saving up for three years, the Chandigarh golfer treated himself to an Audi A4 last year. That’s impressive from a 24-year-old. Among the smoothest swingers of the golf club, Sandhu is eyeing an Asian Tour win in the near future.
With these big pay cheques coming into play, is there a temptation to stay closer to home? Not at all, says Manav Jaini, 29, who made about ₹ 35 lakh last year (mostly from the PGTI), and this after not playing as well as he would have liked. “Now we have 10 new kids on the PGTI every year and they are good. So even if you stay here, you have to work on your game. There is no easy money,” says Jaini, who is investing in good coaching and the Asian Tour, and some real estate. Of course, the Delhi youngster’s biggest splurge so far has been his wedding in January. The fancy car and watch are on hold.
Asked to pick between a million dollars and a title, Lahiri opts for the win if it gets him world-ranking points. Sandhu echoes something similar. These guys are going for broke. Well, in a sense.
Prabhdev Singh is the founding editor of Golf Digest India and a part-time golfer.
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First Published:13 Mar 2013, 08:40 PM IST
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