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Indians tipped to do well

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 5. The most-hyped golf event of year is here. The 300,000-dollar Hero Honda Masters returns to the Delhi Golf Club with the possibility of an Indian raising the winner's trophy on Sunday.

Though defending champion Harmeet Kahlon is away, preparing for the six-day final stage of the European Tour Qualifying School beginning on November 7 in Spain, India's top guns, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, are all ready to fire.

At the same time, the overseas challenge looks somewhat feeble. Going by the current Asian Tour Order of Merit, headed by Atwal, only five of the top-10 bracket are here. The last-minute withdrawal of Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, owing to a back-injury, has made his teammate, Thammanoon Srirot, the spearhead of the group of 61 foreign participants in a field of 118 professionals and five Indian amateurs including Kapil Dev.

If one goes by the history of the dollar-events held in the country after the Asian PGA Tour commenced in 1995, Indians have won 10 out of 13 titles. An addition to this number is very much possible.

Randhawa, champion in 1998 and 1999 before the event moved to DLF Golf and Country Club in 2001 when Atwal carried forward the `tradition' of an Indian champion in the Masters, has a fine all-round game to beat the course and the competition. Randhawa topped last year's Asian Tour Order of Merit with earning of $266,264, is currently playing on the Japan Tour and some big events on the Asian Tour.

Last season, Randhawa came up with his career-best performance when he finished sixth in the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. This season, he became the first Indian to win on the Japan Tour by claiming the Suntory Open. Atwal, the only Asian to win two titles on the European Tour, is being seen as a co-favourite here. Like Randhawa, Atwal has won both the Indian Open and the Masters titles. But unlike the two-time champion, Atwal is looking for his first major crown at the DGC.

Like always, Chiranjeev carries the hopes of many. He has proved himself but yearns to win one big title before his people. However, his form and fitness do not promise much. Carrying a nagging wrist-injury, Chiranjeev has not had a good season. He is tottering in the 69th spot from 17 appearances this season on the Japanese Tour with the best being the tied 13th place in the Georgia Tokai Classic. On the Nationwide Tour, from which the top 20 qualify for the USPGA, Chiranjeev finished in the 128th spot from 11 events, including a tied eighth-place finish in the Alberta Calgary Classic.

Although Chiranjeev did become the first Indian to play all four rounds of a major, the U.S. Open, he now needs a series of good performances. Having given up on the European Tour, he now realises that it was not a good idea to shuttle between the Japanese Tour and the Nationwide Tour. In short, there are enough reasons for Chiranjeev to go flat out.

Given the conditions here, there are a few other Indians capable of beating the field. Arjun Singh, placed 17th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and leader on the Indian Tour and Mukesh Kumar, a four-time winner of the domestic tour, cannot be ignored. Arjun, an intelligent golfer capable of raising his level of play, has been in fine form this season. Mukesh has had many good results on this course. One hopes, it is only a matter of time before he gets it right in a dollar-event.

Gaurav Ghei, the eternal sentimental favourite at his home course, has been going through some trying times. Though Ghei , along with Digvijay Singh is set to represent the country in the World Cup next week, his form does not indicate much. But then, Ghei has scripted many memorable rallies on his course and one more cannot be ruled out.

If there is an outside chance of a rank-outsider taking it away on Sunday, it is due to the fact that nine greens have been re-laid, something that brings down the `home advantage' factor.

The weather is just right for exciting times.

Meanwhile, In the pro-am, the quartet led by Singapore's pro Lam Chih-Bing won on count-back after being tied at 17-under with the foursome led by Thailand's Srirot Thammanoon. The amateur members of the Lam Chih-Bing's team were Joji Yamamato, M.H. Kominato and Anil Virmani. The amateurs in the first runner-up team were, Manish Sanwalka, legendary sprinter of yesteryear Milkha Singh and Moni Bhalla.

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