The 26 year old from Sinamangal, Kathmandu was happy to beat down Deepak Acharya from the all-time most wins list. "While I´m happy to be the most successful pro of the country, I am aware of the additional challenges that come with it," said Shrestha.[break]
He has had long relationship with golf. He came to know about the game from his early childhood as his father Arjun Shrestha has been serving at the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) since past two decades.
"The RNGC course is near to my house and my father still serves there. Thus, I knew the game from my childhood. The way people used to play golf fascinated me and I started loving it," recalled Shrestha.
He began his stint with golf as a ball boy at the RNGC at the age of 14. After few years, he became a caddie and then went on to start his golfing career as an amateur later on.
He won Surya Nepal Western Open in 2007 when he was an amateur golfer and received praises from all sides.
Shrestha´s professional career began in 2008 when he won five titles on the very first season. In the season of 2008-09, he claimed the titles of CMS Open, Ghana Shyam´s Open, Central Open, Samsung Match Play and Golfer Pilots NPGA Classic.
After a successful season, Shrestha sustained injuries in a bike accident and could not get back to his previous form in the season of 2009-10. However, he made a comeback in the season of 2010-11. He clinched Central Open, NPGA Tour Championship, Eastern Open, NPGA President Cup and Ghana Shyam´s Open in 2010-11 to equal Acharya´s 10 title wins in a professional career.
"Records are made to be broken and Shiva Ram´s success is good for Nepali golf," said Acharya. "However, I´ll attempt to level him in the next tour event," he added.
In Acharya´s views, Shrestha is a talented and laborious player but he needs more opportunity in future. "NPGA is planning to give a boost to his career," said Acharya, who is also the secretary general of NPGA.
With a prolific 2010-11 season, Shrestha topped the ranking of Nepali professional golfers and he is currently Nepal´s No 1 golfer.
After defending Central Open on Thursday, he not only strengthened his stake in Nepali golf but managed to elicit a big smile on his father´s face. "It´s dream come true. My two-decade long service at RNGC is paying its dividends now," said the happy father.
Shrestha gave credit to his labor and his club RNGC for the success. "RNGC provided me opportunity and I cashed in on it with my labor," said Shrestha.
In his golfing career, Shrestha has participated in different training programs in India, Thailand and the US as well as played few tournaments of Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI). He is in the waiting list of PGTI for the season of 2011-12 in foreigners´ category.
"I want to play more PGTI tournaments and do well there," said Shrestha. "I shot 12-under in Surya Nepal Masters this season and I´m targeting at least 15-under to 20-under next season to win the title," he added.
After turning to professional career, Shrestha topped earning list in 2008-09 and 2010-2011 seasons. He earned Rs 16,10,517 in his three-and-a-half years long career that includes Rs 4,98,667 in 2008-09, Rs 1,53,250 in 2009-10, Rs 5,88,000 in 2010-11 and Rs 3,70,600 in the ongoing season of 2011-12.
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