The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Can Randhawa do it again?

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Thursday, Oct 11, 2007
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Sport - Golf

Can Randhawa do it again?

Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI: The growing expectations of the country’s golf fans to watch a home-grown player raise the winner’s trophy over the weekend at the 44th Indian Open are surely in order.

After all, five times in the last nine editions, an Indian has beaten the field for the coveted crown. Still, defending champion Jyoti Randhawa feels the pressure of retaining the title before the home crowd.

Added pressure

“There is an added pressure to perform when you are playing your National Open. I try to do the best that I possibly can,” was how Randhawa put it on the eve of the $500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open golf championship.

When reminded of the fact that he could well be the first Indian, and the second after Australian Peter Thompson, to win three Indian Open titles, Randhawa smiled and said, “Thanks for adding to the pressure.”

Indeed, there is pressure on the leading Indians to live up to the expectations of those who throng the Delhi Golf Club here. Ever since Ali Sher broke the domination of the overseas challengers with triumphs in 1991 and 1993, the expectations from the Indian golfers at the Open have grown manifold.

Firoz Ali (1998), Arjun Atwal (1999), both in Kolkata, and Randhawa (2000) at Gurgaon reinforced the belief that the Indians had it in them to finish the job on hand. Again in 2002, it was Vijay Kumar who joined the list.

Last year, Randhawa ended a three-year drought and gave the nation its second two-time champion of the National Open.

What more, Randhawa won a three-man play-off for the title ahead of S. S. P. Chowrasia and Vijay Kumar — all tied at 18-under for 72 holes. Never before did the Indians monopolise the podium like they did here last year.

Course made tougher

In fact, to make the course more challenging, the richest-ever Open — it was worth $400,000 last year — will be played on a course that has been stretched by 126 yards. The length of the course is now 7,014 with three holes having revised yardages.

The tee of the par-4 10th hole has been pushed back, thereby increasing the yardage from 428 to 474. The par-4 third has been lengthened from 411 to 443 yards. The stiffest challenge for the contenders will come on the par-3 seventh where the yardage has changed from 182 to 230.

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