Kiran Matharu
The Wayne Rooney of Women's Golf

Kiran Matharu is overcoming prejudice to stand on the brink of becoming Britain's next big female star.

Kiran Matharu is a 17-year-old who gets text messages from Nick Faldo and has the potential to become as famous in India as the Celebrity Big Brother star, Shilpa Shetty. As with the Bollywood actress, she has also had to overcome racial stereotyping in Britain. But, today, she is a Sikh girl on the brink of a huge future as a professional golfer.

So it is little wonder that the Ladies' European Tour has laid out the red carpet to the youngest member of the 2006 Rookie class - it just seems strange that the LPGA Trou slammed the door on the youngster without checking the facts. Matharu, whose parents both come from India and run a grocery shop in Leeds, played for Great Britain and Ireland at last year's Curtis Cup, immediately turned professional and then proved her class when she finished in the top 15 on her LET debut at the Wales Ladies' Championship of Europe last August.

Her plan was to hit the LPGA and LET end of year qualifying schools and, hopefully, combine both schedules this season. But the LPGA Tour Commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, turned down Kiran's request to join the Tour before the stipulated age of 18. Aree Song and Morgan Pressel were both granted dispensation, but Kiran, who would have been 18 by the start of the Tour, was knocked back on the grounds that she hadn't done enough to prove her worth.

But Kiran, and certainly the LET, can look on the snub in a positive way. She now has a chance to become a leading light on a slightly smaller stage and earn huge publicity in Britain.

Prejudice is nothing new to the Matharu family. Her father, Amajit, beleives he was turned down to join a golf club in the Leeds area because of racial prejudice, and now Kiran has suffered a rejection through age.