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Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008
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Finding it hard to concentrate: Randhawa

Special Correspondent

GURGAON: Jyoti Randhawa is ‘tired and finding it hard to concentrate’ after playing six weeks in succession. After a two-day rest, Randhawa is back on the course and looking forward to a rewarding outing when the $2.57 million Johnnie Walker Classic golf tees off at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Randhawa is currently the highest ranked Indian on the world list. He is placed 77th after top-10 finishes in the past two weeks. “I do think about the ranking but I have to do my job and play golf to my best ability. Let that happen and I leave it to you guys to write about it,” said Randhawa aiming to get into the world’s top-50 list this year and if possible, qualify for a Major or two. “If I can get into the Majors, it’ll be great.”

Biggest stars

For now, Randhawa is looking forward to the week ahead that will see some of the biggest stars of the game descend here. Australian Adam Scott (world number five), Fiji’s Vijay Singh (11), England’s Ian Poulter (24), Spain’s Miguel A. Jimenez, Denmark’s Soren Hansen (44) and Sweden’s Robert Karlsson (45) are the ones from the top-50 list of the world.

Add to it, names like Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and defending champion South Africa’s Anton Haig and the field is the strongest ever to tee-off in the country.

Last year, Haig made history by becoming the youngest winner, at 20 years and 300 days, of the Johnnie Walker Classic and beat Tiger Woods’s record. Since that triumph at Phuket, Thailand, Haig has struggled for form.

“I am not going to put too much pressure this week and want to enjoy it. It is always tough to come back and defend with the pressure but I am looking forward to it and hopefully, I will find some form there this week,” said Haig after playing with former Test cricketer Kapil Dev during the pro-celebrity event here on Wednesday.

“I have a bit of work to do here on my game this year and have my coach Jaime Gough here with me. I am trying to get more width in the golf swing. I have got to keep it in play as it is a tight golf course and the greens are running fast so you need to look for uphill putts.

Tricky back nine

“The back nine is quite tricky. The ‘rough’ is not too bad but there are a lot of tree-lined holes. The greens are very quick, a bit of grain in them so it is difficult to get a read on them. The course looks in good condition. But overall, I am very happy and liking what I have seen,” said Haig.

Given the demands of the long and well-laid out course here, Randhawa, along with Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Shiv Kapur, are expected to do better this week than some of the other home grown professionals.

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