Nepal teen golf sensation talks about her incredible journey – from Kathmandu to California
Pratima Sherpa recalls growing up in a hut next to a golf course in Kathmandu, her first taste of international competition this summer and her dream – to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer
BORN TO PLAY I grew up in the hut where I was born, beside the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) course, which is just next to Tribhuvan International Airport, in Kathmandu. I guess golf has always been in my life. My parents met on the golf course, where they are employed as labourers. We share our home with lawnmowers and other equipment they use for their work. One of the first sounds my ears must have heard was golf balls being hit by clubs.
GAME OF STONES I took up golf properly eight years ago, when I was 11, but before then I’d just hit a stone around with a stick, playing make-believe with the other kids, copying the adults. Until this year, when the government changed the regulations, Nepal’s national game was dandi biyo: you have to hit a wooden pin that’s about six inches long up into the air, and hit it again before the other players can catch it. I’ve heard the British play a similar game called tip-cat. It’s not all that different from golf. But dandi biyo was something everyone could play, whether they lived in the hills or the towns, rich or poor. Now the national game’s volleyball.
INTO THE SWING I started learning to play (golf) properly with a juniors programme run by the club. One of the coaches told me I had a natural talent, and took me under his wing for free. He also persuaded a member to give me a set of old clubs. At first my parents thought it wasn’t quite right for someone from a background as humble as ours to play golf, and a girl at that. But now there are about 40 trophies in our home, so they are quite proud of me. I’m the top-rated female player in Nepal, though I don’t want to say that as it sounds like boasting. I practise for at least two hours every day. Quite often people come and watch me, hanging onto the perimeter fence. Playing here is different to other courses: monkeys sometimes steal balls as they think they are eggs, and if you see a leopard you need to leave quickly.
OF AIRPORTS AND EARTHQUAKES This year is golf’s centenary in Kathmandu. It’s not a game you would automatically associate with a mountainous country like Nepal. Back in 1917, the prime minister came back from a trip to Scotland with a bag of clubs and set up a basic course, but for a long time only the aristocracy and expatriates played. The RNGC was opened in 1965. There are nine holes now, but the course might disappear if the rumours about expanding the airport turn out to be true. I’m not sure where we’d live if that happened. I also play at the Gokarna course in the Kathmandu Valley. There are two more, in Pokhara and Dharan – so only four courses in the whole of Nepal. I was (at home, in Kathmandu) when the earthquake struck in April 2015. The damage in the city was pretty bad, and a lot of people came out here – the course was turned into a temporary refugee camp, with hundreds of people living in tents and they didn’t leave for months.
