By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS
New Delhi : Jyoti Randhawa may not have been too impressed by his first sighting of the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course in its present state, but that did not stop him from leaving it with a big smile after landing two eagles on the back nine and recording a flawless seven-under 65 on the first day of the $ 2.5 million EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters here Thursday.
Randhawa’s continued love affair with DGC put him two ahead of a classy field, where the likes of Ernie Els (75), Darren Clarke (72) and Jeev Milkha Singh (77) struggled to find their rhythm in the event co-sanctioned by Asian and European Tours.
The 35-year-old Randhawa, who has won five times on this course – four times on Asian Tour and once on Indian Tour – seemed to have taken the first step in adding one more to that long list. Ten years ago in 1998, Randhawa won his first Asian Tour event at this very course at the Hero Honda Masters and then repeated the win the following year. Randhawa has won back-to-back Hero Honda Indian Open titles the last two years.
“I have great memories of this course and every time I get here, I keep that in mind and it helps. I guess I have won a few times (four internationals actually) so I know what the course is,” said Randhawa, who has in all won seven titles on Asian Tour.
Randhawa led the field by two over England’s Richard Finch and Damien McGrane of Ireland. Kapur, Jose Manuel Lara of Spain and Dubai-based Dane Thomas Bjorn were tied for fourth at four-under 68. Bjorn and Kapur played in the morning.
Arjun Atwal (70) was lying tied 18th and Jeev Milkha Singh (77) was way beyond and facing the prospect of missing the cut unless he turns in a good number Friday.
Kapur, who holds the course record at 10-under 62, said: “My putting was pretty good. Whatever realistic birdie opportunities I gave myself, I made the majority of those, so I’m happy about that. There’s always room for improvement.”
Kapur rebounded from a none-too-memorable start where he had two bogeys in his first four holes, to make a great looking four-under 68 that put him as the best Indian in the first part of the day. Later he was overtaken by Randhawa, who went on to lead at the end of the day.
The day saw also India’s C. Muniyappa slot a hole-in-one on the 12th with a four-iron that rolled into the cup on the 201-yard hole. Muniyappa carded 69 and was tied seventh.
Atwal, Harmeet Kahlon, Digvijay Singh and SSP Chowrasia, all shot two-under 70 to be tied for 17th place as India had a good opening day.
Top draw Els playing alongside Jeev went for a 75, which included a quadruple bogey on the 18th, which was his ninth hole of the day. He was tied for 77th.
On professional golfers’ greed for better and better scores, Randhawa laughed and added, “I suppose that’s right. I can say I missed quite a few putts inside eight feet.” He went on to count at least five of them, including those on first, ninth, 16th and 17th. “But still to shoot a 65 on first day is great.”
“Greed is good if it helps,” he said with another laugh. “This is a European Tour event and one cannot afford to relax. Somebody else can come and shoot a low number, so I can’t relax.”
Randhawa had on the eve of the tournament said, “Frankly I’m not very impressed with the way the course is right now. I guess the severe winter has hit most of the grass in the greens and the rough. I have never seen Delhi Golf Club look this yellow. It’s always green; it’s always lush; it’s always very picturesque. But unfortunately we’ve been very unlucky with the weather, and the thing that’s most damaging are the greens.”
When reminded, he smiled and said: “The greens are very good. The greenskeeper has done a great job with what he had in hand. The winter had burnt the greens and the fairways but the greens are still playing great.”
“I wish this tournament was a month later. It (the course) would be in good shape. But, you know, saying that, it’s the same for everybody,” said Randhawa, who had two eagles on 14th and 18th and three birdies on third, sixth and 12th.
Talking of the 18th, he said: “I laid up with a three wood and hit another 3-wood and that was perfect. I had a 15-20 foot putt, and with Mark (O’Meara) putting before me I got an idea of the line. As they say in school, learn from others and I did. I holed the putt and it felt great.”
As for learning, Randhawa has done a great job so far. Now it is a simple matter of keeping it up for next three days and adding more silverware to already burgeoning collection.