Golf Referee K Sundar

In 1977, opening batsman S Kedarnath(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/kedarnath-s-opener-from-1970s.html), who was in prime form that year, was invited by batting legend GR Viswanath to move to Bangalore so he could explore options to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. When he came home to inform the news to his father, his enthusiasm was crushed as he was asked to stay back in Madras and continued his work at SBI. And there ended his Ranji cricketing dreams. Hailing from T. Nagar, another youngster from that era could easily have become a member of the Guru team at Somasundaram ground and pursued the favourite sport of the time but he chose one that was played just 50yards west of the YSCA tennis ball team (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/ms-gurumurthy-ysca-somasundaram-ground.html). At the turn of that decade, a star basketball player, who was just coming out of his teens cherished dreams of playing for the state. Much like Kedarnath in cricket, he too was told by his father to stop his sporting pursuits and settle down in a stable job. There ended his basketball dream and he almost never entered the court again. Touching 60, he is back now with that same passionate sporting interest that he had displayed all those decades ago and this time is confident of scaling global heights in Golf, if things go his way in the next couple of years. Here is the story.

K. Sundar,a student of T. Nagar High School, took to Basketball at an early age though he played a bit of cricket and tennis as well during his childhood years. Every evening were spent at the basketball court on Venkatnarayana Road (opposite Natesan Park) with boys his age under the tutelage of JBC Sampath. The bunch of boys took part in many tournaments during their teenage years both at this court as well as the popular one at Somasundaram ground and had become a team to reckon with in the city. His elder sister was a rank holder in Class X and he was constantly told by her to focus on academics. 

While he did follow her advice, his early sporting success easily outshone the performance in academics. By mid teens, he was part of the State Junior squad in Basketball. Sundar recalls the role played by his basketball Guru and coach at the Venkatnarayana court “JBC Sampath was an outstanding example of a selfless coach whose sole aim was to get the best out of his students. He never took money from his wards. In fact, he went out of his way and spent money for us. He would buy shoes for the deserving students. He was a phenomenal disciplinarian and those that did not stick to the timelines had to sit out.”

As seen later in this story, it is that discipline that is currently helping Sundar as he takes a second shot at achieving sporting glory.

After having carved a name as a budding talent in the city Basketball circuit, Sundar did his PU at Vivekananda College and found to his dismay that the entire sporting focus there was on cricket. He along with his group of T Nagar teammates who had also joined the college that year met the Physical Director of the college. Sundar remembers those moments in 1977 “When we met him asking for a team to be set up in Basketball, he almost dismissed us as this sport had almost never been played at the college. It was after the endorsement from our mentor and coach that Ramakrishna Raju finally gave way and for the first time in college’s history, a strong Basketball team from Viveka took on the big weights in the inter collegiate circuit.” 

Sundar played for the city colleges team and did well. He was selected for the state U19 team and played for the state in the Junior Nationals in Pune. He was also in the selection camp for the Indian Junior team. At that moment, he cherished ambitions to play at the state (Men's) level and was clearly focused on pursuing his sporting interests “As a youngster, I believed I could reach the national level in Basketball.”

His father was a Government staffer and one with sporting interests having played tennis almost all through his life including till just before his death at the age of 78 but through the teenage phase of Sundar, he was completely unaware of the sporting success of his son much like the parents of that generation. When Sundar’s name featured in The Hindu as part of the team chosen for the state, he gathered courage and went up to his father to show the news report to his father. “It was only then that he came to know that I was doing well in the sport. And from that moment would often introduce me to others as ‘State Basketball player’.”

Soon after graduation, Sundar was offered a ‘sports quota’ job in a Government organisation in Bangalore but his father was keen for his son to explore opportunities and a career in the private sector. He declined the offer “Had I taken that up, my life could have taken a 'sporting turn' as I may have pursued my sporting interests for the rest of that decade.”

However, as directed by his father, he took to the private sector and joined HCL in 1982. He did not enter the Basketball court with the same seriousness again. Like any youngster, Sundar was disappointed having to give up a sport he loved at that age “I was hugely saddened that I had to give up my dream for ever and could not be at the court again after having played very competitively for 10years, but in those days there was no choice really. You did not go against the father’s word. Also, I had lost my mother very early and my father meant everything to me. While I was disappointed having to let go Basketball, I trusted my father on his advice.”

Surya Sekar, who joined Indian Bank at 18 on sports quota recruitment, says that Basketball was in a very primitive stage in the country that decade “Basketball was not a financially lucrative sport. We were given a Rs. 120 worth wrist watch or a Rs. 80 worth wall clock for tournament  victories. The player of the tournament would have got a tiffen carrier. If he had pursued the sport, he would have definitely played for the State and progressed well. It is also likely he would have secured several offers from organisations that promoted sportsmen but he had to quit early and moved into business where he became very successful.”

Very soon, he quit the job at HCL and for the next three decades, enjoyed life as a businessman. His elder brother and his friends had set up a marketing venture and then a manufacturing firm and Sundar joined them early. 

After staying away from sports for over a decade, he came back and took to Tennis. He played Tennis for several years including captaining the T Nagar Club in inter club tournaments. It was under his captaincy that the club gained promotion from Division E to C in the 1990s.

At the turn of the century, he took a call to move into an unlikely sport, the third of his life. Like many in the corporate circles in the city, playing golf in the local courses was taking off and he too joined the bandwagon “I gave up tennis to take to Golf. I was warned that it would be very addictive but I was up for it. While it was time consuming, I did very well and began to enjoy the sport.”

Just under a decade ago, he shut down his manufacturing business and moved into another area in Golf. It was a ‘semi professional’ call at that time. From playing, he moved into the role of a Golf Referee. Within three years, he had gone through four different levels of exams and was certified in 2015 in Malaysia with one that made him eligible to officiate in international golf tournaments.

In the early phase, he found Golf Refreeing quite challenging “Unlike most other sports, the role of a referee in Golf is extremely challenging. The field here is not clearly defined, there are many variables and no fixed rules. More importantly, Golf is played in different terrains, on different types of courses where the size too varies. One has to be mentally alert and take quick decisions. It is physically demanding as well."

If Sampath mentored him in Basketball in the 1970s, it was Ishwar Achanta, the only Indian Golf referee to have officiated in US, British and Australian Opens, who initiated Sundar into Golf Refereeing “Ishwar is a  Golf Rules Encyclopedia and was the man responsible for my initiation into Golf Refereeing. He has guided me over the last decade and played an important role in this phase of my life as I looked to develop my skills as a referee” says Sundar.

Since 2012, he has officiated in over 50 tournaments in the country and his commitment has led him to travel almost nine months every year. In 2018, he officiated in the Asian Tournament that took place in the Prestige Golf Course in Bangalore, one that remains his favourite todate.  Last year he was to officiate in one of the most prestigious national tournaments – The Hero Open in Delhi - but unfortunately the Pandemic led to the cancellation of the tournament. 

With the experience of officiating in several leading tournaments in the country, he has also moved up to don the role of 'Tournament Director'.  

His mentor Ishwar Achanta, who helped Sundar understand the rules better, says that he has all the qualities required to be a top notch golf referee "Sundar is a very meticulous person, organised, process oriented and disciplined in everything he does. Golf rules are typically understood by those who have discipline in life.”

Ishwar believes that Sundar has a good chance of doing well in overseas tournaments as a referee “He has the interest and passion to perform at the top level but opportunities will not land up in his lap. He has to stay patient and committed."

40 years ago, he had given up dreams of taking to serious basketball but at 60 he is now cherishing a new sporting ambition - That of making an overseas foray and officiating in international golf tournaments. Way back then, in 1982, he was just one step away from playing for the Senior State when he gave up Basketball, a sport that he still considers as his favourite. In 2021, he is just that step away from making his debut as a Golf Referee in overseas tournaments. Will it be a second time lucky for Sundar. 

This section will track his progress in the next couple of years.