The Hindu : Sport : Chowrasia starts favourite

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Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
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Chowrasia starts favourite

Rakesh Rao

GREATER NOIDA: Ten days after S. S. P. Chowrasia stunned an elite field to win the Indian Masters in the Capital, Asian Tour’s first full field event of the season tees off with the $400,000 SAIL Open golf championship at the Jaypee Greens course here on Wednesday.

Chowrasia, for once, starts among the favourites in a dollar-event that has attracted quite a few illustrious performers from the continent. Though Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Shiv Kapur dropped out of the event citing different reasons, Jyoti Randhawa will spearhead the home challenge.

Long hitters

Randhawa, the highest ranked Indian occupying the 82nd place in the world, is expected to do well on this young course that encourages long hitters.

The last time Randhawa played here, in the 2006 BILT Open, he won the PGTI Tour’s flagship event with ease. Last week, Randhawa followed runner-up Jeev in the top-10 bracket in the Indonesia Open.

Therefore, it did not come as a surprise when Chowrasia tipped the Randhawa as the strongest contender for the title.

“I played a round with him today and I am tempted to say that Randhawa will win on Saturday,” said Chowrasia and expected the winning score to be around 20 under par.

About his own chances, the Kolkata pro said, “I am not a big hitter of the ball but I hope to consistently hit about 260-270 yards on this course. On the longer holes, this course favours players like Randhawa but if my short game works the way it worked during the Indian Masters, I can also do well,” said Chowrasia underplaying his chances this week.

Dealing with pressure

“When I play at the Delhi Golf Club, I am always scared. Though I enjoy the course, I am forever wary of going astray and paying a heavy penalty. Here, at the Jaypee Greens, even if I hit a water-hazard, I know the penalty is just one shot. So, I hope to play more freely here,” explained the ever-smiling Chowrasia who was quick to state that he was not going to be under pressure.

“If I take the pressure, then only I’ll come under pressure. I will take it a shot at a time, just as I have always done,” was how Chowrasia chose to put it.

Gaurav Ghei, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, expected the seasoned pros to “burn the course” over the weekend. “Unless the greens play really fast, I expect a very low winning score here,” said the seasoned Delhi pro.

66 Indians

Digvijay Singh, Ashok Kumar, Mukesh Kumar and Rahul Ganapathy are among the 66 Indians in the field of 150.

With six Indians in the top-eight of the Asian Tour Order of Merit, this is another opportunity for the home golfers to reinforce their growing status as a force to reckon with in the continent.

Playing on this world-class course, designed by Greg Norman, should also help the Indians get a good workout ahead of next week’s mega event, the $2.5 million dollar Johnnie Walker Classic, to be staged at the DLF Golf and Country Club at Gurgaon.

Overseas contenders

Among the overseas contenders, South Africa’s Hendrik Buhrmann, USA’s Mike Cunning, Singapore’s Mardan Mamat and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant have all won titles in India.

Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wen Teh, 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medallist and winner of the 2007 Caltex Maekyung Open Korea’s Kim Kyung-Tae and Australia’s Scott Hend add to the list of those threatening to deny an Indian from beating the field.

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