Karina Jadhav, a 5-year-old kindergartner at Fairmont North Tustin school in Santa Ana, recently won a second place silver medal at the 2015 World Junior Golf Olympics held next to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The young Indian American played competitive rounds of golf on a 1,100-yard course for four consecutive days. She made some putts and tricky bunker shots which displayed considerable talent for her young age.
Additionally, earlier this month, Jadhav qualified to play in the prestigious 2015 IMG Academy Junior World Championship and got to play with a group of the best junior golfers aged under 7 from around the world in San Diego. Notable past winners of the event include Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Karina, the daughter of Amit and Smeeta Jadhav, is perhaps the youngest Indian American to qualify and participate in these two prestigious events. She started playing golf at the age of 4-and-half, and was introduced to the game by her father, who is a reputed golf enthusiast. This young Orange County golfer practices every morning before school at the Irvine golf courses and is back again after school lets out.
Recently, Jadhav started taking lessons from the renowned Los Angeles coach Don Brown, who has coached pros like Kevin Na and Allison Lee. Aside from golf, her other interests include piano, swimming, gymnastics, dance and art. A self-disciplined kid, Jadhav likes to complete her homework on time and loves to play with Legos and soft toys.
