Calcutta: Inside the tiny 10x8 foot room at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) staff quarters was a picture of Royal Bengal tiger hanging on the wall.

When Bijay Prasad Chowrasia said that his brother “played like a tiger” in winning the inaugural Indian Masters on Sunday, the image inside that small room symbolised everything that is SSP.

“We were a bit tense but when we saw his face on the TV… we knew something great was going to happen,” Bijay added.

All eyes at the RCGC were glued to the television set on Sunday when Chowrasia played his final round in New Delhi. The victory achieved, everybody jumped in joy, hailing the new champion whose career is very much rooted to the RCGC greens.

It’s from this room some 18 years ago that SSP, affectionately called Nepali in the circuit, had started the dream which has now been turned real.

“He started as a caddie for the then RCGC captain Madan Singh. Once his talent was spotted, his graph never stopped rising,” maintained M.M. Singh, the club’s CEO.

SSP, who has publicly thanked the RCGC which has been sponsoring him for the past few years, will continue his association with the club. A felicitation will be held at the earliest.

Chowrasia will also be given the club’s honorary life membership. In fact, Singh informed Chowrasia of this while congratulating the golfer. “The RCGC has always been the inspiration for me,” Chowrasia told Singh.

“Dil khushi se bhar gaya… he’ll move further up the ladder,” Chowrasia’s father Ganesh Prasad told The Telegraph.

The septuagenarian used to work at the RCGC as a tractor-driver and now lives near Varanasi.

Chowrasia’s three brothers, interestingly, now accompany him as caddies in India. While Govind Prasad was his caddie during the Indian Masters, Om Prasad had slipped into a similar role during the Indian Open. Bijay will be with him during the Johnnie Walker Classic in Gurgaon from February 29 to March 2.

Singh believes Chowrasia’s “mind-blowing” success will motivate other caddies to emulate him. “At present, we have a pool of 40 golfers, including some caddies, under the club’s guidance. We will trim the list to four and five and sponsor them,” said Singh.

The process of unearthing another Chowrasia from the RCGC greens is already on.