Our man Atwal

His win on the PGA Tour has taken him into a different league. But it’s been a long road, says Jaideep Ghosh

Fame is a strange thing, isn’t it? Success brings scrutiny and ironically, your misgivings and weaknesses become bigger news than your achievements.

Do you think people would have given a damn how many affairs Tiger Woods had, had he been a lumberjack? On the flip side, would he have had so many affairs had he been chopping wood?

Which brings us to our man Arjun Atwal. Suddenly, India woke to the fact that the golfer was alive and very much kicking, enough to become the first-ever Indian to make a mark on the US PGA Tour, the toughest there is (the same one where Woods made his bones).

So we celebrated, as we have a wont to do when an Indian (or anyone else, whose ancestors may have once visited India) succeeds. Three cheers for Atwal!! Even from those who wouldn’t recognise him on the roads.

But that is not what this is all about. Atwal had made headlines earlier too and some of them weren’t pleasant.

It was in March 2007 that Atwal made the news for stuff you normally associate with movie and football stars in the US, or Bollywood hunks in India. He was involved in a high-speed car crash, where the driver of the other vehicle was killed.

Atwal was investigated for street racing and subsequently cleared.

Post that, the golfer, who comes from Asansol in West Bengal, was there and thereabouts in the news, with near-misses, some decent shows and then with news that he had lost his US PGA Tour card.

The only ‘news’ news was that he was Woods’ practice partner for five years now.

Then he won, and we applauded. But with victory, especially in the US, your history comes back to haunt, and Atwal’s was naturally about the car crash. Questions at the post-tournament win press conference at Greensboro included those about the accident, including if he was ever worried about being thrown into prison.

“I try not to bring it up or talk about it,” Atwal said in response. “It was an accident. There was no one to blame. So, you know, that’s it. I didn’t do anything wrong and the other person didn’t. It was no one's fault. It was an accident. That was it.”

Back home though, especially in the golfing community, Atwal is now looked at with new respect.

“I just think that the magnitude of what Arjun has done has still not sunk in,” says Joseph Chakola, a New Delhi-based professional golfer. “Its taken him many hard years being away from his home and his comfort zone to finally break through and I’m sure if he looks back in retrospect he’ll say it’s all been worth it.”

Gaurav Ghei, the eternal realist, was quoted as saying that this win was practically beyond the comprehension of the average Indian golfer. “Arjun's breakthrough is a little far-fetched for most Indian golfers,” he said after the win. “90 per cent of golfers can’t relate to what it takes to win on the PGA Tour. He has crossed over to a different league.”

Now Atwal is famous again, till the next best thing happens. So the best thing for him would be to put his head down and let the storm pass. After all, for all the bouquets that will fly your way in the wind of success, it only takes one shard of glass to make you bleed again.

(Jaideep Ghosh is a Delhi-based freelance writer)