‘Boy Wonder’ Gajan’s dream of being a professional golfer

Richard DWIGHT

Creating quite a sensation the other day at the golf course of the Royal Colombo Golf Club and Waters Edge, was Gajan Sivabalasingham, the 15-year-old prodigious golfer from Markham, Ontario.

Endowed with a tallish lanky physique, with boyish sparkling eyes that revealed a zest, zeal and enthusiasm for a sport that he has come to love. He did belie his tender years to display rare maturity that was most impressive, which found the caddies following, increasing in numbers, simply to take in the brilliance of this young lad as he kept playing.

This being his first visit to Sri Lanka, Gajan though not familiar with the golf courses here and, accustomed to the facilities prevailing in Canada and the States - Nevertheless did extremely well at a round of golf at the RCGC, where he notched 3 birdies and an eagle, and then at the Waters Edge he registered 6 birdies, that evoked the comment from the caddies, that Gajan as a Junior, had bettered the previous day’s score of a national golf champion.

Exceptional as it is, it surely does speak much for his potential as a golfer in the years that lie ahead. Evidence of this could be gathered from that which follows in this brief narrative of Gajan.

Gajan who hails from, Town centre Montessori private school, Markham was born in Canada. The only son amongst 3 elder sisters to Mr. and Mrs. M. Sivabalasingham, who emigrated in 1990 to make Canada their home.

Incidentally, Siva in his own right was a fine sportsman, having excelled in cricket at the highest level for the Tamil union and Saracens Sports club, before leaving for Canada.

The parents are accountants by profession. Perhaps it was the hitting around of a set of plastic golf balls, given to him by his immediate elder sister at the age of 4 - that led Gajan to take a liking to play golf.

Fondness for golf

This fondness for golf that began to take hold of him, runs parallel to his studies in school, where at the age of 15, he is in grade 10, with grades 11 and 12 to follow and, then onto the university.

The sport of golf has so possessed him at this early age, to the extent that he spends as much as 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day, every day practising golf in the summer, and does the same 2 hours a day, three days a week in the winter, with homework (studies) taking 2 1/2 hours a day, of his time. His inspiration comes from the world renowned golfer Tiger Woods and from his family, to whom he is deeply attached.

Since playing his first round of golf at the age of 4 in 1997 - there is undoubtedly something special about this lad’s golf at the Junior level. For the reason that having made a fine impression at local competitions, the Canadian nation paper ‘Toronto Star’ spoke of him as ‘little Tiger’, and did hit the front pages of all the national dailies, which went down well with the community at large.

A swinging sensation he was when at the age of 6 in 1999, he represented Canada for the US kids world championships, to be the youngest to represent Canada in any sport.

This did find the agent of Tiger Woods convey the maestro’s good wishes, which thrilled Gajan no end. Ever since then he has been a part of the team Canada under 19. As an active participant of golf tournaments conducted by the Golf Association of Ontario and the Canadian Junior Golf Association - Gajan from the age of 6 upto the present age of 15, has done exceptionally well to win around 60 domestic as well as international junior tournaments.

Satisfaction

By far the most rewarding satisfaction he prides over, are the victories he experienced in the ‘Future tournament, ‘Mississippi World championship,’ USA in 2004, in the Canadian National optimist championship in the years 2005 and 2006 and, of course his winning the prestigious Ontario Bantam Boys’ championship at the age of 13 in 2007 - where he came from behind to shoot a 66 to walk away with the hefty ‘Eagle Trophy.’

This feat of his and the fact that he finished the year (2007) in the top three in eight tournaments, did earn for him a feature article in the ‘Desi Life’ magazine in its October/November 2007 issue, with his photograph on the front cover captioned ‘Boy Wonder.’

There’s much that is interesting in that article concerning his golf. Where Gajan says it’s all about deep breaths.

For when he is feeling the pressure out on the green, he takes a few deep breaths and tries to visualise his next shot - and right before he is about to hit, he strives to really clear himself of everything and just think about hitting the shot. All this may have helped him to win his first international tournament, when he was 10.

Twice a week

There exists a happy relationship between father and son (Siva and Gajan) which has bonded them together, to more importantly be great friends. Siva speaks thus of his son, whom he cherishes most “whether he wins a tournament or loses a tournament, he looks the same to me, Gajan should enjoy the wins and also accept defeat, then take it to the next level, every day is a learning experience,” Siva concluded by saying that “all parents have expectations and he’s a very gifted golfer, but if I push him too much, I might lose him.”

Currently at the age of 15, Gajan is working twice a week under Dave Woods, the former Canadian professional Golf association teacher of the year.

He is experiencing a gestation period of lull, where he plays with much older boys, whose ages range from 16, 17 and 18. Being the youngster he is, Gajan is familiar with golfers like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, B. J. Singh, Michael Campbell, Nick Price, Steven Ames, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Watson and ladies No. 1 player Annika Sorensten.

There is yet another side to this teenager’s life, in that he is cultivating a concern for those in need of help. This is reflected through his charity foundation, where by his ‘Gajan Golf Classic’ he raises funds for the Sick Kids Hospital.

Gajan’s dream is to be a professional golfer, it’s alright having dreams, but he will do well to ensure that he does not make dreams his master - but rather transform them into reality.