Golf is one of the most demanding sport - both physically and mentally. A golfer not only toils on the course with his clubs and the body but also has to remain focused and anxiety free to perform to the best of his abilities. A look at Tiger Woods' career graph, the biggest icon of the sport, proves this statement beyond doubt. Multiple surgeries in his back and knees but Tiger made a comeback despite all that due to his mental fortitude - winning the 2019 Masters, his 15th Major title.
Zara Anand, the Indian amateur who shot to the sole second spot on the leaderboard after the opening round of the ongoing Hero Women's Indian Open on Thursday, seems to have the quiet resilience reminiscent of Tiger Woods. Zara carded a four-under 68 at the challenging
DLF Golf & Country Club to create a rare Indian 1-2 along with leader and local favourite Vani Kapoor.
However, not many are aware that Zara's amateur golf journey hit a roadblock during the COVID-19 pandemic. The then 13-year-old girl couldn't play golf for almost 1.5 years as she contracted COVID and developed Hyperthyroidism, a medical condition where the body produces excessive amounts of thyroid hormones leading to loss of body weight and muscle mass.
"I had hyperthyroidism like three years ago, I mean I lost a lot of weight and I wasn't able to play golf for more than an year. So, I mean it's been a good comeback after that. I'm okay now, yeah," Zara told MyKhel.
Elaborating on the condition, Zara's long-time coach Amit Dube revealed that the golfer didn't have the requisite strength to walk 18 holes, let alone play golf.
"Zara came to me for the first time when she was 5 years old and she has been working with me since then. I am like her second father. So, I have seen her through everything. People don't know that when Zara had COVID-19, she had hyperthyroidism. That means, she was losing excessive amount of weight unnecessarily, under any kind of stress, physical or mental," Amit Dube told MyKhel.
"We didn't play any golf tournament for 1-1.5 years. Because she had lost a lot of muscle mass. Then we luckily found a good doctor who diagnosed her properly, treated her well. She still takes light medication. It took us 8 months to get her strength back. I mean, her driving distance had dropped a lot. But she didn't lose her courage during this 1-1.5 year period. She never asked me, 'Coach, when will we play the next match?' Because I told her, we will play the next match only when we are ready to play," he explained.
Once she had regained her strength and optimum body weight, there was no looking back for Zara.
2023 onwards Zara delivered some solid performances both nationally and internationally. She led the Indian team to a top-5 finish at the prestigious Queen Sirikit Cup last year. She also scripted a tied-14th finish at the Junior Open Championship in Kilmarnock (Scotland) in 2024 besides a runner-up finish at the Malaysian Srixon event. On the domestic Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour 2025, Zara posted two runner-up results at the Bangalore Golf Club this June and then the DLF Golf & Country Club last month.
Talking about her round at the Gary Player-designed Black Knight layout, Zara said: "Well, I had a bit of a slow start in the morning, I mean I wasn't hitting it great, but then in the back nine, my ball started rolling in and I just got the momentum going, so that was great. I mean it's such a prestigious event and it's such a competitive field, I was definitely nervous, but I think I handled it well and I've been playing on this course recently quite a bit, so I think that definitely did help," she said.
With her coach Amit Dube on the bag, Zara felt "incredible" on the tough course.
"I mean it was incredible, we had a good team going there and yeah, I mean he's been coaching me since I started playing, so he knows my game pretty well, so that was good to have him there. My mom was also there, she was supporting me, she walked all 18 holes, so it was great to have her there as well," Zara said.
Golf is a family affair for Zara, who picked up golf with some motivation from her maternal grandfather. Now, she wants to take the US collegiate golf route to playing on the world's most lucrative Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour. Zara is targeting Auburn University in Alabama, one of the top-8 colleges on NCAA Division 1 in USA. Thankfully, she has Aditi Ashok to look up to even though the Indian pro took the Q-school route.
"Yeah, I'm very excited about that, I can't wait for next August to finally get going. I mean it's been a great journey and this was the inevitable next step. Hopefully I'm playing another event next week, I'm still sorting things out for that. But yeah, I think that'll probably be the last one of the year as well, just continue the momentum, keep practising, keep getting stronger before I head to college next year is probably my goal for the season," she signed off.
