Nepal golfer Subhash Tamang makes history with All India Amateur title

A little bit of sub-continental golf history was made recently when young Subhash Tamang became the first golfer from Nepal to win the 122nd edition of the prestigious All India Amateur Championships run by the Indian Golf Union at the iconic Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

Adding a fairytale element to the story is the fact that the 22-year-old from a village some hundred-odd kilometres outside Kathmandu had till the age of 10, not the faintest idea about golf, or most sports for that matter as he would help his brickmaker parents make ends meet.

Tamang was 10 when he was sent to the capital to help relatives look their newborn and where his cousin was a ballboy at the Royal Nepal Golf Club. Young Subhash was instantly drawn to the game when he got to visit the course and where his latent talent was recognised after becoming a ballboy alongside his cousin and getting his hands on an old club and spare golf balls.

Tamang’s abilities were first spotted by Tashi Ghale, a Nepalese businessman and president of Nepal Golf Association. Ghale took him to Deepak Acharya, the director of operations and a teaching professional at Gokarna Golf Club, where Tamang would take his first serious steps into the game with proper guidance, kit and training.

Three years ago, when it became evident that Tamang needed a more intensive level of input and exposure, Ghale and Acharya reached out to Bangalore-based coach Tarun Sardesai who runs a residential academy just outside the Karnataka capital. Sardesai offered the young man and another amateur full scholarship and playing opportunities and later became the coach of the Nepalese national team.

Since then, Tamang’s rise has been rapid with appearances at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the Asian Games and other such tournaments around the region. At the All-India Amateurs final, he beat India’s Rohit Narwal by a convincing 9&7 margin after the two were neck and neck for the early part of the match at the RCGC.

By the end of the first 18 holes in the 36-hole match, Tamang led 3-up and closed out the final with a nine-hole lead with seven left to play.

The flagship event of the Indian Golf Union which runs the world’s oldest amateur golf tournament outside of Britain, the All-India Amateur was first held over 36 holes as a stroke-play event to cut the field down to the final 32 who then went into the match play section.

Tamang was fourth in the stroke-play and over the week he met and beat a formidable set of opponents. He faced the toughest challenge early, in the first round itself, when he was taken to extra holes and won on the 19th hole against Kanav Chauhan.

Tamang then got the better of Vishesh Sharma in the pre-quarter finals and Dhruv Suri in the quarters by identical 4&3 margins and then South African Altin Van Der Merwe 3&1 in the semi-finals.

“It is the happiest moment of my life,” said the shy Tamang afterwards.

In the stroke play team event, South Africa topped the team event with Van Der Merwe and Jordan Clay Burnand leading the way. The two South Africans lost out in the semi-finals, as Tamang beat Van der Merwe and Narwal knocked out Burnand. India A with Sandeep Yadav and Narwal were second and India B comprising Vinamra Anand and Shaurya Bhattacharya third.

The All-India Amateur Championships is India’s oldest golf tournament and has been running since 1892. It was not held during the two World Wards and cancelled in 2020 owing to the pandemic.