At the Brunei Open
There's a new name fluttering on the top portion of the Asian Tour leaderboards, and no, Gaganjeet Bhullar is not who we're talking about. Chinnaswamy Muniyappa, he of the flashy pants and disarming smile, has suddenly discovered the joy of weekend golf at tourist-brochure Asian destinations and the tour rookie has decided to make the most of his new-found passion.
Bangalore's Muniyappa, who had cracked the Qualifying School examination at the beginning of the year along with Anirban Lahiri to get his card for the year, had since not managed to last four rounds for any continental tournament, except the SAIL Open on the birdie-blessed home soil at Gurgaon's Classic Golf Resort.
Then suddenly, at the Brunei Open, one bravely held together round of two-under 69 and another damage-control one of one-over 72 squeezed him onto the Saturday tee times, and he responded with a course-record nine-under 62 third round.
The soaring gusts of a tied sixth place on the leaderboard going into the last day do strange things with the mind. The 32-year-old finished with another one-over 72 and in tied 13th place there, and has since made two cuts in two tournaments, with a tied 15th at the Selangor Masters. "I would keep thinking of all my missed cuts. It is not a nice feeling, and I kept putting myself under more and more pressure each time it happened," Muniyappa, back home for the first time in four weeks as he plays the Tamil Nadu Open from today, told us. "With Brunei, I became freer, and that's making me putt better, play better," Muniyappa said.
But the sudden burst of flights of fancy has not caught hold of his planned targets. "I'm not going to start of talking of winning already. I need to play a few more leadergroups before that happens, or I'm ready to do that. I played the second-last group in Brunei on the final day, and it just felt very different from any of the other pairings," he said.
So it's just a top-65 that he's targetting this year, making sure he gets better tournaments next season. Also on the checklist is a quick second win at home. Last November's Toyota Altis Open at home in Bangalore was Muniyappa's first pro win, and he wants another, not least because it helps incoming sponsorship. It also means a lot of confidence and a bigger profile. "Playing in Asia, with the big names of the region, is great. Earlier, I would get a bit intimidated when playing with players like Mukesh Kumar, for instance. He's won so many titles. Now I know that when I have to play with him on the home tour, I will be fine," he said.
A trip to Malaysia's Twin Towers during the Selangor tournament week was also the first bit of sightseeing he'd done all season, but it's golf-course exploration the late bloomer hopes to continue doing more of from now.
Picture courtesy: asiantour.com
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