The opening 74 robbed Viraj Madappa of a possible shot at the title in the Players Championship, but if that round can be discounted, the hard yards put in during lockdown appear to behave borne fruit with a 69 and Friday’s lowest round of 64.
One of the fittest Professional Golf Tour of India and Asian Tour, the 22-year-old turned his hobby into a passion when the world came to a standstill. “I put in double the effort into fitness than golf as I knew this opportunity would not come again,” he says.
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In his endeavor to restore muscle mass lost to travel across Tours, Viraj had little at his disposal save two 20kg dumbbells and a 4kg medicine ball, bought two days before lockdown in Kolkata.
Since gyms were out of bounds for a while, Viraj sought permission to convert an unused room in the family home into a makeshift training spot. When restrictions were lifted partially, a squat rack, bench, and 180kg of weights were added to the collection. Clean eating was part of the plan as well, though Viraj was not on the same page with his trainer on turning vegan.
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