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p>16-year-old Kiran Matharu, a third-gen Brit Asian, is a budding golf star from Leeds whom some call the best female amateur golfer in the UK (thanks, midnight toker):
[Amarjit Matharu’s] daughter, Kiran, is the best female amateur golfer in the country. She plays off plus 3.4 – compared to Michelle Wie’s plus 4.2 – and she is only 16. Kiran is off to Texas this week, having been invited to a training camp by Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods’ former swing guru. Nike, Ping and Red Bull are all keeping a close watch. Serious money is just around the corner…[Her father] was a keen sportsman, playing golf off four before switching his attention to cricket, but he never quite made the big time. He runs a bar in central Leeds and follows sport as a fan. He feels hard done by that Kiran is not given more attention. ‘Everyone raves about Michelle Wie,’ he says. ‘I know that if Kiran was American, she’d be red-hot news…’
Her practice swing is a thing of artistic beauty. So smooth, so relaxed, so natural. She bangs the ball 260 yards down the middle of the fairway without appearing to make any effort…
Kiran Matharu could be the most exciting female golfer to emerge in this country since Laura Davies started scorching the hide off the ball. Let’s hope she makes it, not just to repay the £50,000 her family has already invested in her career, but for her sake. [Link]
She will play in the Curtis Cup next year — the youngest member of the squad — and then turn pro. [Link]
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p>She’s drawing comparisons to Sania Mirza and Vijay Singh:
This is a girl who, as part of Team Faldo, destroyed the opposition in the highly acclaimed Faldo Series in 2004 by beating her nearest rival by 11 shots… She says: “I’m proud to be the only Asian girl playing but I don’t know why other Asian girls don’t play…“When I was about 12, I went to the golf course with my dad and was just watching him hit balls on the range. So I had a go with his clubs. Then a professional walked passed and told my dad that I had a natural swing…” [Link]
“There are more opportunities in America than in England. Just look at the way Michelle Wie has been pushed into all of the limelight over there – and how well she has done…” [Link]
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p>Matharu isn’t too old for some subtle trash talk:
Testing herself against the likes of Michelle Wie is something Matharu can now look forward to. “I think it’s great what she has done for the game,” Matharu says, “but I don’t think she should get invited straight into everything. She should have to qualify like everyone else.“I saw her at the Curtis Cup. She looked a bit sad and like she didn’t want to be there. She won and she still didn’t look happy!… When I play well I enjoy myself on the course.” [Link]