Up until late last year, Om Prakash Chouhan never thought he could ever be a millionaire. Despite spending over twenty years as a professional, Chouhan had never claimed pole position on the PGTI tour. The only time he had been on top was for one week in 2014 where he eventually finished third. Twenty-one years on the circuit had meant he was always a domestic journeyman, forever waiting for his fleeting moment of glory. Chouhan’s odyssey was consigned to the familiar — albeit inspirational — caddie-turned-pro tales that abound Indian golf.
All that changed last month when Chouhan topped PGTI’s Order of Merit with the season’s earning of ₹1,18,26,059, making him the first to cross the ₹1cr mark on the domestic tour. With that, Chouhan has also earned the ticket to this year’s DP World Tour (European Tour) where he will debut at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in UAE that begins on January 25. He will also compete in Bahrain Championships and Qatar Masters — both part of the DP World Tour.
“It was always a matter of so near yet so far. But I kept believing,” the 37-year-old said.
“I can proudly say that I have realised one of my very important dreams. To pocket the record prize money is really awesome because never in my life did I imagine that I will be a millionaire.”
OP– as he is fondly called on the circuit — took up golf at the age of seven, simply because that was the only sport he had access to. Growing up in the cantonment town of Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, he could literally “walk into the golf course from his room.”
“I tried cricket and football at school but there were no professional academies in Mhow. Then, my father suggested I try an individual sport so that I don’t fall prey to team politics in future,” Chouhan remembered.
It helped that his father was a greenkeeper on the army course, which meant that despite the sport traditionally being the preserve of the affluent, Chouhan had an organic initiation into it. Never mind he caddied for army officers and played with borrowed clubs well into his professional career that began in 2002. The dream to play “alongside the names he had read in newspapers” egged him on.
Chouhan’s only goal at the start of the year was to “play the best golf I can.” By the time the year ended, he had fulfilled it in style as his 12 top-10s — including four wins — out of 20 starts illustrate.
Chouhan began the 2023 season with a seventh-place finish at the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship but missed the cut at the Hero Indian Open, his next outing. Victory arrived at the Black Bull Challenge in Bengaluru in March — a DP Challenge Tour event — but he missed the cut in three of the next four events. As the monsoon break ensued, Chouhan headed to Kalhaar Blues and Greens — his home course in Ahmedabad — to iron out his flaws.
“I realised my season was petering out after the promising start. After some introspection, I realised I was being too overconfident after the Bengaluru win. My gameplan has always been very process-oriented, but after winning the Black Bull Challenge, I began thinking of results prematurely,” he said.
“I ventured into some competitions thinking I will easily make the top five and played a bit too aggressively. I ended up missing cuts.”
The second half of the season threw up astounding results for the seasoned pro. In the 12 PGTI events since August, Chouhan racked up nine top-10s, including three wins. He missed the cut only once in this duration. In November, he won the Indian Oil Servo Masters to beat Manu Gandas’ 2022 season’s earnings record of ₹88,50,688 and three weeks later, won the SSP Chawrasia Invitational to breach the ₹1 cr barrier.
“I didn’t know how to react. It’s an amount no one has won on the Indian tour before, so it is a very special achievement,” Chouhan said. While he calls his Ahmedabad visit ahead of the second half of the season as the turning point, the belief that he would top the rankings took shape much later.
“Sachin Baisoya challenged me a lot throughout the season. He is a very aggressive player and is tough to beat when he gets on a roll. The biggest turning point for me was the trip to Ahmedabad just before second half of the season. But I never thought I will cross ₹1 cr,” he recalled.
“When I was ₹5 lakh off Manu’s record, I knew I could cover it in two matches. It was only after I crossed ₹70 lakh with six events to go that I had ₹1 cr on my radar.”
In his moment of triumph, Chouhan hasn’t forgotten his weak moments where he almost quit the sport due to a funding crunch. The closest he came to calling it a day was in 2010, eight years into his professional career, when his one-time mentor Mukesh Kumar asked him to return his borrowed clubs.
“I still don’t know why he did that, but that incident changed my life. I became determined to make my own destiny. I borrowed clubs from a friend and completed the season but promised to pull myself out from that situation. I never thought of quitting again.”
And so, Chouhan ploughs on. New vistas await in Europe, for which he’ll need to tweak his game. “The greens there are very fast, unlike in India. The wind is also strong on most courses whereas in India, only a handful of courses challenge me. Add to it the level of competition. It won’t be easy, but I will give my best,” he said.