The wizened old man of links golf is setting the bar at Turnberry. Tom Watson is turning out to be the incredible, beautiful story of the 2009 British Open.
But for us, the thrill of watching the tiny tricolour image on the leaderboard was unfortunately cut short rather early. Among those who watch Indian golf closely, there was no one in the least surprised when Gaganjeet Bhullar qualified for his first Major appearance at the green age of 20 this April. The youngster, big-hitting, confident, and precociously talented, always stood from the rest of the teenage pack from the time he was an amateur.
This Friday at windy Turnberry though, Bhullar, who had started the British Open with a one-over 71, which was remarkable in the way he bounced back from two bad setbacks, failed to keep up with the challenge of the weather and the beautiful, but brutal golf course.
Bhullar's 77 in the second round, because of which he missed the cut by four shots, was not a measure of the 21-year-old’s skills. It was definitely one of his experience though. The young Irish star Rory McIlroy, you might say, also struggled, but managed to pull through to weekend action. But McIlroy, who has been playing on the European professional circuit for a while now, has practically grown up on courses like Ailsa.
That brings us to the question of the need of championship courses in India. Links golf, as Watson has proven in three days, is all about experience. The more you play, the better you do it. While it’s not a certainty that young Bhullar would’ve done extraordinarily well had he had more practice of links golf, we can be sure that he would’ve handled it much better. He certainly wouldn’t have needed to travel to Scotland 15 days in advance on his own money to get used to that kind of golf.
As Bhullar mentioned himself, there is only one setup at the moment in India that comes closest to being a links course. But even Gurgaon’s Golden Greens does not present a challenge remotely close to the ones in the British Isles. For one, the kind of wind that can wreak havoc in your round, rarely finds its way in there through the Aravalli ranges. The rough, too, is not wild enough to ensure that consistent disciplined hitting becomes imperative.
Getting tough, competitve championship courses might not be too popular at the beginning among the players, as the scoring is likely to shoot up, but it will pay dividends soon. It is the only way to ensure that when our players get to the big stage on their talent, they have the right kind of playing experience to make them stay there for long enough.
Image courtesy: www.asiantour.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment