Weird golf game taught me to be disciplined: Brian Lara

Golf balls give legendary cricketer Brian Lara more headache than cricket ball gave. A left-handed batsman by trade, Lara could smash any bowler out of the park but these “silly little golf balls” are difficult to hit and needs more concentration, he feels.

“Yes, golf is a weird game. I was capable of dealing with moving and bouncing cricket balls, but this little silly ball, sitting on the ground, gave me quite a headache early on for few years but taught me how to be disciplined in controlling the ball,” Lara was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Tuesday.

He took to golf in 1994 shortly after breaking Gary Sobers’ record of a then highest Test innings score (375 against England). He has also won several titles back at home in the Caribbean. He also spoke about the other cricketers, who play golf and mentioned that although Kapil Dev and Jacques Kallis are recurring names among the cricketers who play golf, Ricky Ponting is the best among them.

“We have been hearing about Jacques Kallis and Kapil Dev, but the best that I have seen is Ricky Ponting. His putting is a little better and he is consistent on that front,” added Lara, reports the news agency.

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Lara also revealed how he once competed with Kapil Dev at an American golf tournament.

“We were playing in a tournament in the US. I was up against an American amateur. He defeated me. After that, I went up to Kapil and said this American guy is unbelievable.

“Kapil nodded funnily and went against him. He returned only to tell me he cleaned the American in 15 holes. That is Kapil, a proper golfer here.”

Although he is an ardent golf fan now and spends most time playing the sport, it was different during his cricketing days. I had to focus more on cricket than golf because otherwise, it would affect my batting, he says.

“Pretty early, when I started playing golf, I was compared to Garfield Sobers, who played both cricket and golf. In cricket, you should keep your wrist as straight as possible, unlike golf.

“This itself was a problem, and hence, I did not play much of golf in my playing days.”

“There were not many left-handed golfers too. I did switch to play right-handed pretty soon but did not felt comfortable because playing left-handed in cricket came naturally to me. This also made me focus not much on golf,” he added.

Image Source: ESPNCricinfo