By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS
Bangkok : Caddies play an important role in every golfer’s game is something every golfer knows for a fact. Most top stars have their regular caddies, who travel with them, and some players have different caddies for different tours.
Indians are also following the tradition. This week at the Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok’s Thai Country Club, three of the four Indian players have brought along their caddies and it seems caddies from back home add to their comfort level.
Shiv Kapur, who has been having a good run with his Delhi-caddie ‘Thakur’, whose real name is Babu Ram Bhatti, has continued with him. The duo finished second in Indonesia at the start of the year and then finished in top-10 at the Singapore Open last month. While Kapur has used Thakur in Asia, his friend, Neeraj Sareen, has accompanied him on many Tour events in Europe.
Rahil Gangjee has off and on been summoning his caddie Sanjay Choudhary from Kolkata, while S.S.P. Chowrasia often has fellow Kolkatan Pritam Saikia on the bag. Saikia also helps Chowrasia with his physical fitness routine.
But this week Chowrasia has Rafiq Ali, a fellow pro on Indian Tour as his caddie. Rafiq, brother of Firoze Ali, who plays a few events on Asian Tour, had accompanied Chowrasia for last year’s Volvo Masters, too.
Jeev Milkha Singh travelled for seven years with his Japanese caddie, Ippei Fujimuro, but with the latter deciding to settle down, Jeev has a new man on the bag. Jyoti Randhawa has had cousin Bunty Randhawa, a former pro on Indian Tour, as his caddie.
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Liang wants to win Order of Merit for his wife
Liang Wen-Chong of China is bidding to become the first Chinese player to win the Order of Merit as he tees up at the Volvo Masters this week. He plans to get his wife, Siu Ka Wai, to hold the Order of Merit trophy, if he wins it as is expected.
The only way he can miss out on it is if Chapchai Nirat of Thailand wins the Volvo Masters and Liang finishes outside top-three.
Liang, who has an infant son, married his sweetheart Siu Ka Wai two years ago. He said she would be the first person to hold the UBS Order of Merit trophy if he can pull off the triumph Sunday.
“I’m indebted to my wife as she’s supported me in my goal to become a better player. In some ways, I was under pressure to produce the results and show that marriage has been good to me. Whenever I leave home, I can concentrate fully on my golf,” he said.
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American golfer Saltus buys caddie a motorbike
Bryan Saltus, the colourful American, finally found success at the Johnnie Walker Cambodia Open after three years on Asian Tour. Among the first things he did was to take a plunge into the lake next to the 18th green.
Next, he bought lady caddie in Cambodia, a motorbike. He did not stop there, he bought another motorbike for the ‘tuk-tuk’ (autorickshaw-like vehicles in South-East Asia) driver who often took him to the course.
The 36-year-old from California came to Asia in 2004 and has been a regular since then. A die-hard fan of the group ‘Grateful Dead’, he has been to more than 150 of their concerts. Prior to coming onto Asian Tour, he had 22 wins on mini tours in US Tour, and also played three years on Canadian Tour from 2001 to 2003. A year later he came to Asia and stayed on. “It is a cool life here,” says the salt-and-pepper, wild-haired Saltus.
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Jeev’s unique record of highest number of events
Jeev Milkha Singh, winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit is not here this week for the Volvo Masters because he did not play the mandatory 10 events to qualify for the Tour Championships. But this does not mean he played less this year.
For the second year in a row, Jeev played no less than 40 events. He is the only player in the world’s top 200 golfers to breach the 80-tournament mark. In fact the other player to have touched 75 and that interestingly is Jeev’s friend Daniel Chopra, the Indo-Swedish star, who has played 75 tournaments in last two years.