Former LET winner Kiran Matharu is on the way back to the top of ladies golf in 2017 with her PGA coach Mark Pinkett insisting: “Anyone else would have quit.”
Kiran Matharu is on the way back to the top of ladies golf in 2017 with her PGA coach Mark Pinkett insisting: “Anyone else would have quit.”
The Cookridge Hall starlet had the world at her feet a decade ago. A teenage prodigy and poster girl for Asian sport, Matharu burst on to the scene and looked all set to be a dominant force.
But the past four years have been miserable for the 27-year-old who has suffered injuries, loss of form, loss of confidence and even had to work through a bout of the yips.
Thanks to the help of coach Pinkett, a cricket physio and iron determination, Matharu has posted some encouraging results over the past two months. And now she is looking ahead to a sparking ’17.
“She has done so well to get to this stage,” Pinkett explained. “I have to take my hat off to her, a lot of other players who had been through what she has would have given up.''
“I have been here for her all the way through. It has not just been a question of coaching – I am at the end of a phone line or she Facebook Messengers me when tournaments are. I am always available to help and support her ultimately because I did not want to see a great talent go to waste.”
Matharu had piled up the achievements before she was out of her teens, initially making a name for herself by bagging the girls’ title at the Faldo Series following that up by winning the English Ladies Amateur Championship.
As a professional she won the Volvo Cross Country Challenge, tied fourth in the Finnair Masters and second in the Nykredit Masters – but soon she started to crumble and by 2012 she had lost her tour status completely.
Matharu turned to Pinkett for help and he soon realised the only way to get her back on track was to rebuild her swing and work on her strength and conditioning.
“It was never going to be an easy task. Changing some one’s swing so they can compete at the highest level takes years not a few weeks. And it was a tough conversation to have with her father Amarjit particularly, explaining that technically Kiran’s swing wasn’t good enough.''
“But Kiran was great. She believed in me at the start and has done all the way along. I have been on that journey with her – every step of the way. Most of the time we just talk and I do everything I can to build up her confidence and self-belief because there is no doubt she has the talent.”
The pair set to work, dedicating themselves to hours on the range, maintaining that dedication even when the results were not happening on the course. For Pinkett, helping Kiran get back to her best has been a mission more than a coaching role.
He said: “I am always thinking about what I could do, I look at every possible factor that could have an influence. I go beyond the normal boundaries to get her playing well. I have brought together a team of people who can really help her.”
But Pinkett and Matharu’s task was made easier when Northamptonshire County Cricket Club’s physio Madhan Ramanathan recognised she was suffering from blocked hips.
Matharu said: “I was struggling and it was getting worse. But fortunately Madhan realised what the problem was and it’s made a huge difference. Suddenly I can swing the club more freely. This issue had been going back for years.”
Finally all the work – on the swing, in the gym and with her physio team – is paying off.
A dramatic final round rise through the field up to joint third at the WPGA International Challenge at Stoke-by-Nayland in October was a signal Matharu was getting back to her best.
She followed that a week later finishing joint seventh at the LETAS Santander Golf Tour event and most recently she landed a ninth place in the Hero Women’s Indian Open – despite dislocating her little toe.
With a positive end to the season, Pinkett firmly believes the Leeds professional will flourish in 2017, insisting: “She deserves it. She has worked hard and never lost faith.”
Credit- PGA
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