PGTI tourney: tee-off today

The Aircel-Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) player’s championship will be held at the Poona Club Golf Course from Tuesday. Gaganjeet Bhullar,C Muniyappa,Anirban Lahiri,Mukesh Kumar,Himmat Singh Rai,Rahil Gangjee,Mohd. Siddikur Rahman,Shamim Khan,Sujjan Singh,Vishal Singh,Gaurav Pratap Singh,Harmeet Kahlon,Digvijay Singh,Vijay Kumar,Harendra Gupta and Pune’s Gurki Shergill will be the marquee names at the event. Bhullar,one of India’s youngest professiona lgolfers,is looking forward to the event. “I have always fared well atthe Poona Club Golf Course,therefore I’m looking forward to playing here after two years. The greens are in great shape and the ball is spinning due to the weather conditions so one needs to be sharp with the short game. I posted my best-ever finish in Europe last week whenI finished tied 30th at a European Tour event in Portugal. The performance in Portugal has done wonders for my confidence”,he said.

Gurki Shergill will be one of Pune’s hopefuls and he is confident of a good performance. “I’ve worked very hard on my game in order to prepare for this event. I have been hitting well and my short game is also in good shape. I have been in good form this year having finished in the top-20 in a number of events including a tied 12th at the Asian Tour’s SAIL Open. I would like to take this form forward into the second half of the year. The quality of the field is very high this week and a close contest is expected. The conditions are not going to be easy as the rough is up. The winning score could go as low as 12 under. Local knowledge of the course will help me a great deal in reading the greens. The key to playing well for me is to keep my expectations low”,he said.

C Muniyappa,former Asian tour rookie of the year,feels that the greens will be challenging. “The greens are playing really well but the rough is high. The scores could go as low as 13 to 14 under”,he said. He had not been at the top of his game this year because of problems with his swing and will be using this event as a chance to improve upon it.

“This event gives me an opportunity to regain form and get my confidence back so that I can go on to achieve better results on the Asian Tour. I know once I start driving and putting well,I’ll be back in the reckoning”,he said.