In July 2024, senior Adithya Venkataraghavan announced his verbal commitment to Cornell University, where he hopes to major in financial economics and minor in data science. He will be joining the Cornell golf team on the Division I team.
On a trip to India when he was five years old, Venkataraghavan was introduced to golf for the first time. His grandfather gave Venkataraghavan his first putter and taught him how to put, sparking Venkataraghavan’s interest in the sport. Upon coming back to the United States, his father encouraged him to continue with golf, beginning a lifelong passion.
“I’ve been playing golf with Adithya since we were kids,” senior Aditya Mahajan said. “He’s always been hard-working. On any given day he’s playing golf for four to five hours and there are not many people that are willing to put in that effort for any sport, and it’s one of the key traits that makes him successful.”
Over the past 12 years, Venkataraghavan has always seen golf as a form of comfort, but being a student-athlete is quite difficult. Balancing AP classes, traveling to compete in the sport and also making time for the gym was quite a struggle, causing Venkataraghavan to face countless late-night study sessions to make up work. Despite the academic struggle, Venkatraghavan continues to love and enjoy the sport.
“My favorite part about golf is meeting a lot of new people,” Venkataraghavn said. “I’ve met a lot of great people through golf, and the opportunity to learn from them has pushed me and motivated me to be better.”
Despite how much he loves golf, Venkataraghavan has also had periods of stagnation and failures in his golfing career. He often struggled with keeping his head in the game rather than focusing on the outcome, which resulted in some of his tournaments ending poorly. In the face of these challenges, Venkataraghavan continued to persevere, changing up his practice methodology. He wanted to improve his performance in similar conditions and focus on small details during a tournament.
Venkataraghavan first began discussing committing to Cornell when he was attending the College Golf Experience Ivy League Camp, where he met the coach from Cornell. After the camp, he continued a correspondence with the school coach, eventually leading to his verbal commitment to the team.
“Funny story, I committed to Cornell the day after my first visit,” Venkataraghavan said. “I fell in love with the campus, it was just beautiful. Although I would ideally like to pursue golf professionally, Cornell also is pretty close to New York City, allowing me to also pursue finance.”
At Cornell, Venkataraghavan hopes to take advantage of the school’s social scene. He seeks to meet many academically intelligent peers and bond with his teammates; he even plans to join a fraternity hosted by his golf teammates.
“I look forward to competing on Cornell’s golf team,” Venkataraghavan said. “I bonded well with the team members. I want to become the best golfer in the Ivy League and eventually become captain of the entire team. However, I’m mostly just looking forward to having a good time and meeting new people.”
