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PUTTING WITH THE DOCS
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What are psychiatrists and nephrologists doing on a golf course? Certainly not medicine
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A view of the Karnataka Golf Association
WHAT DOES a patient do if he/she is suffering from a frozen shoulder or a tennis elbow or even an athlete's foot? Head straight for the golf course and get a special consultation from any one of the 75-odd doctors enjoying their Sunday holiday playing a round of golf.
Ten years ago, four doctors taking a well-earned break with some golf at the Karnataka Golf Association course decided to form the Golfing Doctors' Association. Doctors K.R. Srimurthy, Kalyansundaram, B.C. Rao, and Mohan were the founder members of the Association, which, incidentally, has registered a good growth. The Association would stage an annual tournament for its Bangalore chapter and everybody had a good time in the past decade.
With Dr. Rohit Shetty becoming Secretary of the Karnataka Golf Association, the Doctors' Association received a big boost. An idea was floated to have an All India tournament inviting doctors from all over the country to play. Dr. Mohan got busy and sent a letter to major golf courses all over India and the response was very encouraging. Lotus Laboratories and Wockhardt lent some support as sponsors, and though budgets were strained, help started pouring in from many sources, keeping the morale high. Rohit Shetty, consultant for West End Hotels, managed to get the Hotel to sponsor a dinner, and T-Shirts, caps, golf balls, lunch, and more importantly, beer was made available from well wishers.
Thus, five days before Christmas, the first ever All India Golfing Doctors' tournament took shape. Entries from Kashmir, Meghalaya, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Secunderabad were received, and the field of 73 doctors exhibited their golfing skills at the KGA.
The good thing was that most doctors were of equal handicap, making the tournament a highly competitive one. Surgeons, psychiatrists, general practitioners, nephrologists and other specialists were out on the course on the day of the tournament.
The Golf course
At the end of a highly enjoyable tournament, there were a number of winners. Chengappa, with 43 points, won the Dr. Jayaram Memorial Open Title in the low handicap section.
In the 0-18 handicap section, Kalyansundaram emerged winner with 38 points, while Raphael Parambi was runner-up with 36 points. Chennai's Dr Thiagarajan, and partner, R.K. Srivatsa bagged the lucky doubles prize, with Mohan Devegowda and Jagadish finishing second. In the 18-26 handicap section, Ramanna lifted the Apoorva Rolling trophy with 41 points, while the high handicap winners were Ananth Krishnan (40 points), and the runner-up was Niranjan Mardi (38 points).
In this section, the lucky doubles winner was Thomas Joseph, and S.R. Rao, while Srikrishna and Lakshminarayanan finished runner-up. There were other prizes too. Aravind Jha won a suit length for his 300-yard drive, which turned out to be the longest drive. B.R. Vinay landed closest to the pin to also get a Raymond's gift hamper, while Chandrashekar had the best back nine scores for a similar prize hamper.
Pherlok Lamare came all the way from Meghalaya and walked away with the best outstation golfers prize winning a 3M sthethoscope. Usha Madalli from Hubli was the best lady golfer. She received a 3M stethoscope.
Elated with the success of the tournament, the Golfing Doctors' Association plan to make the All India tournament an annual affair. Good luck to them!
D. RAVI SHANKAR
Photos: K. Bhagya Prakash
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