Golf world puts Indian-American teen Megha Ganne on cloud nine after US Open feat | Golf News – Times of India

WASHINGTON: For many desi parents in U.S., early summer weekends are when they are glued to the national spelling bee championships, where typically, nerdy Indian-American kids run away with honors. This past weekend though, many desis, and millions of Americans, were captivated by an Indian-American teen who scorched the greens at the 2021 US Open, challenging professional leaders to the end before topping the low amateur category. The verdict on 17-year old Megha Ganne in the golf world is unanimous: A star is born. The headline on Golf Channel said it crisply: Future Megha-star.
Haring back with her parents after her stellar performance at the US Open in San Francisco to their home in Holmdel, New Jersey, Megha headed straight back to school, forestalling an interview, but her mother Dr Sudha Ganne, an endocrinologist, exulted in the golfing feats of her daughter that has drawn rave reviews both for her skill and poise. “We have always been an outdoors family who’ve wanted our children to pursue sports rather than video games,” she told ToI in an interview. “That said, Megha is also academically focussed…she can speak to you after her school at 3 p.m.”
Indeed, so academically driven are the Gannes that a calculus assignment was never far from Megha’s mind even as she jousted with the world’s top golfing pros. After her round on Friday when she stunned the golf world by going into the lead, she was asked what’s more difficult: playing the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open or the calculus homework she has waiting for her? “Probably the calculus,” she chuckled. “I don’t know how I’m going to manage to fit that into my schedule in the next few days. Hopefully my teacher gives me a little bit more time to do that, but yeah, it’s hard to balance both.”
Charmed by her verve despite the calculus assignment at the back of her mind, Golf Channel reporter Kira Dixon, a former Miss America, posted this tweet: “Dear Megha Ganne’s calculus teacher, Please, help a girl out.” A few hours later, the teacher responded: Hi. I’m Megha Ganne’s Calculus Teacher. I’ll help a girl out 🙂 Megha, you are exempt from the project. We are all rooting for you! Good Luck.

Still, Dr Sudha Ganne, who calls herself a “golf mom” and who travels with Megha and younger sister Sirina to tournaments with her IT entrepreneur husband Hari Ganne, insists there wont be any slackening on the academic front. For now though, golf pundits are rhapsodizing about Megha’s game, honed by her coach Katie Rudolph, COO of The First Tee of Metropolitan New York, to whom dad Hari Ganne took her as a pre-teen. “I’ve been calling her ‘the best player in the world’ since she was 7,” Rudolph says, predicting matchless success for her ward. In her decade-long stint as coach, Rudolph has seen Megha become a four-time Drive, Chip and Putt finalist, a semifinalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, shoot a tournament-record 62 at the Girls Junior PGA Championship, among other feats.
But it is her run at the 2021 US Open where the high-schooler nearly pulled of the improbable feat of nicking the title from pros, that has electrified the golf world. “Megha Ganne will be known as more than low amateur at the 2021 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. The 17-year-old became a new idol to hundreds young girls this week,” Golf Channel said in a glowing review as the Indian-American teen charmed the media and fans, predicting that her future looks bright – “not only in golf, but how she will impact the game as a person.”
CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter gushed about “the swing, the energy and the smile that could run a country,” as he marveled at how the 17-year-old amateur went toe-to-toe with the world’s best “at an age of innocence…one unburdened by the heaviness of life…an age free of the barnacles everyone collects as the years start stacking up.”
“There is much ahead for her. The U.S. Amateur, a senior year and a team at Stanford that will certainly contend for national championships. Who knows after that. She may win five of these in the future. But even twice that many major championships cannot match the joy of contending in one when you’re 17. When you’re old enough to know what’s happening but not old enough to understand too much,” Porter wrote, comparing her journey to that of Phil Mickelson.
As for Megha, she was back in the classroom at the Holmdel High School in New Jersey, cracking calculus.