Making of a golf champion
She used to watch her father return from playing golf. He was posted in Delhi then. The year was 2006. The golf bag and the gleaming irons used to be laid out for cleaning, and both the kids would observe the process keenly. One day, as he got ready to go to the golf course, Diksha asked Col Narinder Dagar, “Papa, will you take me too?” She was just six. Her mother was firm: “She wants to go with you, take her, she will not trouble you.”
Col Dagar remembers with fondness the first day he took her to the Army golf course in Dhaula Kuan. She stood there watching him hit the balls and walked all the way down the fairway though it was a hot summer day. The routine did not change. Diksha would follow him like a shadow. “Darling, aren’t you tired?” he asked her after a few days. “I love it dad,” she replied.
One day, when he asked her whether she would like her own golf irons, her eyes sparkled with joy. He went looking for small irons for a left-handed child. He got her an iron, a pitching wedge and a putter.
When she was 10, the golf attachment only grew. A hard-working girl, she would tag along every afternoon after school. One day, he asked her, “Would you like a proper golf set of your own? Once I get it, there is no looking back for you.” He could see the elation in her eyes. She was a determined sportsperson.
Diksha’s mother would pick her up daily from her school in Delhi Cantt, carrying her lunch and golf kit. They would head to the golf course, where she would practise for four hours straight. After reaching home, she would have her academic home tuitions. Her days were full of toil, there was not a moment to spare, but the parents recall how she took it in her stride. She had acquired a great sense of self-discipline.
She did her Plus Two from Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan.
Diksha Dagar was ranked India No. 1 for three years in all categories — ladies and juniors — during her amateur career. She represented India at the Asian Games in 2018, World Amateur Team Championship in 2016 and 2018 and Asia Pacific Cup in 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2019, she turned professional. She is a three-time winner of the Ladies European Tour, South African Women’s Open in 2019, Czech Ladies Open in 2023 and Aramco Team Series London in 2021.
She also has the record for the best finish by an Indian in a Major British Ladies Open tournament. Her aim remains to play in the Ladies Professional Tour Association Championships.
Diksha was awarded the Arjuna Award
this year. For the Paris Olympics, the family reached the host city on July 28. Col Dagar had booked a hotel close to the golf course. Two days later, while returning from a get-together at India House, their car met with an accident. Diksha’s mother got badly injured and had to be hospitalised. This incident did upset Diksha’s prospects in the Olympics. She secured a final ranking of T49.
The Olympian had participated in Tokyo 2020 too and is the youngest Indian winner on a European tour. She was ranked No. 3 in the Order of Merit of Ladies European Tour in 2023 and is currently ranked world no. 167.
Now, here’s the truly inspiring bit. Diksha, 23, cannot hear properly since she was a child, but the family puts it best — “her soul always heard the message of the heart, she wanted to fly high, and she did”.
Let it be a story for all parents to learn from. Every child has god-given gifts. It is for us to stand like a rock with our children, like the Dagars have done.
