India, Oct. 8 -- Walking off the third hole at the Kasugai Country Club in Aichi last Saturday, all Pranavi Urs could think of was Rory McIlroy. She had just made a triple bogey, and with Singapore's Shannon Tan and China's Ruoning Yin closing in, the slip could've proved costly. McIlroy had recovered from a similarly poor start on the final day of Augusta Masters early this year to win his second green jacket in two years, and Pranavi hoped to take a cue from her golfing idol.

"It was pretty random, to be honest. On third hole, Rory was the one person I thought of. I told myself, if he can win the Masters after a terrible start, so can I," Pranavi said in an interaction facilitated by SAI. Sure enough, the 23-year-old barely put a foot ...