Indian Open Golf: Who will stay on course?

Gurugram: Quirky, special, beautiful, brutal. These are a few words golfers use to describe the playground of the Hero Indian Open, where there are bound to be a few swings, seesaws, slides, climbers, and pools where many dreams will be lost.


Richard Mansell, who tasted sweet success in Singapore on Sunday after some sour misses, has been there, done that. “I think it’s a golf course you need to have some confidence on,” says the Englishman. “The difference between 70 and 80 is not much, so it’s important to stay in the present.”

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Defending champion Keita Nakajima, who finished second behind Mansell at the weekend to tee off his mission of joining the five Japanese players on the PGA Tour, promises to “stay patient” this year too at the DLF G&CC’s Gary Player course. Last year’s wire-to-wire winner, who was waylaid by back pain after the Olympics, is looking for another round of applause. “It is a tough golf course, but I will just commit to one shot at a time.”


Easier said than done, but he’s done it. One man whose ambitions are not done yet is Gaganjeet Bhullar. The 36-year-old is still searching for the key to winning a big event in India despite winning 11 tournaments abroad. “My first Indian Open was back in 2007. I would love to win this tournament one day. But somehow, you got to play well over four days. I’ve not been able to do that at the Indian Open. I’ve definitely done it outside India.”


There may be several factors. “SSP (Chawrasia) won here. And he was not a long ball striker or a long driver off the tee. Again, a lot of elements, situations. Last year, Veer (Ahlawat) was right up there. If he had a good first two rounds, he would have definitely been in the hunt.”


So no predictions from Bhullar. “The only forecast is that it’s going to be hot. March-end in North India, we do get a lot of westerly disturbances. A lot depends on that. But I definitely see a double-digit this week.”


“Under par this week will be top ten,” says Shubhankar Sharma, India’s European Tour mainstay, whose return to DLF is a homecoming. Along with the rest of the Indians, he has seen and felt the changes over the years. As a 20-year-old, he saw SSP walk down the stretch for a memorable win. “I think in 2017, it was the first time the golfers were playing here. Some of the green complexes were even tougher. The tricky quarry 17th is slightly flatter. Believe it or not. But it’s actually more intimidating now when you look at the tee shots. The trees weren’t as lush and green. The course has matured; the rough is thicker.”


This year, there is another obstacle. The weather has taken a turn for the extreme, and sunbaked, firm greens will pose a new problem.


“It’s so different from last year, the cut was at 1-under because then, it was really soft,” says Shubhankar. “Now, it’s tough to stop the ball from the fairway.”


Gaganjeet wades into the issue. “We played this golf course about a month ago in the International Series. The course is playing tougher and harder now. So, hit lots of fairways, hole lots of putts.”

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