The Little Tibetan golfer competing at US Junior Championship is Dalai Lama’s great-grandniece
10-year- old Aarya Tsarong from Boston participated at the 2024 Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals played at Augusta National Golf Club on April 7, 2024.
She is among the 80 golfers, boys and girls age 7-15 who competed at this prestigious US National golf Tournament for Kids. Aiming to get selected for the National Finals, thousands of kids from across US battle it out every year in the regional qualifiers.
Started playing golf at the age of 6, she learnt it from her father Tenzin Thutop Tsarong who is also a golf player, and he learnt it from his father, says this Video report by Radio Free Asia Tibetan Service.
After her win at the qualifiers held last year in Massachusetts, the tournament’s website published a story introducing Aarya. Detailing her golf journey and interesting family background, the story also mentions, “Her great-grandfather’s younger brother, you see, is the 14th Dalai Lama.”
Interestingly, her father is the young man who played the role of 14th Dalai Lama in the 1997 Hollywood movie KUNDUN directed by Martin Scorsese.