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Sunday, June 7, 2009
Jive With Jeev
As Tiger Woods, the game's greatest gift to mankind, stood on the beautiful, yet dreaded par-3 12th at this year's Masters, an excited member of the Augusta National rushed from behind the gallery, pushed aside Stevie and thrust his cap at a bewildered Tiger. Remember? No? Neither do we.
But if you step out of the state of Georgia, take the first United out of Washington Dulles and come back to India, we will narrate a short story from the Bilt Open that took place late last year.
The tournament held special significance as it marked the return of Jeev Milkha Singh to the domestic circuit. This time, after winning four tournaments across the globe for the second time in three years. The press corp were out in full strength and by the fourth day it was clear that it was going to be a tournament to remember. But it was Jyoti Randhawa who was turning heads in the final round, looking to add his fifth win out of five starts on the PGTI tour.
As he walked towards the 13th tee, a couple of eager, yet-to-be-inducted-into-the-propah-world-of-golf fans ran up to Jyoti and pushed a sheet of paper under his nose to get his autograph. Jyoti dutifully obliged and then went on to complete a remarkable come-from-behind win.
The young men, unaware of golf etiquette, were perhaps just trying to express their enthusiasm for the sport beginning to be discussed more frequently on the sports pages of the leading newspapers. Was it a definite sign that golf in India had arrived? Maybe not, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the sport in the region has a lot more to talk about than just boasting of the oldest course outside of the British Isles.
So, we hope to keep our fingers on the pulse and chronicle the stories from the game as it heads towards actually gaining acceptance with the sport-loving public of India, and not just in the excessively PR-driven literature that keeps hitting us in the face.
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