Hard work, determination paid off for Randhawa

There have been a lot of people telling me from the moment I came off the course after the last round of the Hero Honda Masters that I was u...

There have been a lot of people telling me from the moment I came off the course after the last round of the Hero Honda Masters that I was unlucky to miss out on the title. Many others have said, `Better luck next time’ and so on. These are friends and I do understand their sentiments and know that they want the best for me. At the same time, I must add that I am not unhappy with my play over the past week. I played very good golf for the first three days and I did not play badly on the fourth.

Jyoti Randhawa was brilliant. He shot a 67 on the first day and 66 on the last day and in between had a 69 and 73 on the second and third days. If you also take into account the two penalty strokes he got in the third round, it is clear he was the best golfer on view this week. He was the most deserving winner.

This year’s tournament, while missing out on some Tour regulars like Ted Purdy, who was playing in the USPGA qualifiers, was hugely successful with the spectators. I have never seen such a big gallery on thelast two days of a golf event in India.

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The icing on the cake for the tournament came in the form of Indians finishing first and second and then there was Arjun Atwal in the joint fourth place.

Though I did not finally win the tournament, the result was very critical for me, in that it will probably ensure that I also get to keep my APGA card for 1999. Since I had now won for the last two years, the exemptions I had as a result of earlier title wins would have run out at the end of this year. I need to finish in the top 60 on the Order of Merit and I think a prize purse of about US $ 25,000 or 30,000 should suffice. Since I spent most of the season in Europe I have not got to play much on APGA. But a third place in the Fedex Open and now the second place in Hero Honda Masters will safely take past that figure.

One final piece of advise, if I may give it to my colleagues on the Indian Tour. I would like to see more and more of them playing on the APGA and elsewhere whenever they get a chance. It can beexpensive if you are missing cuts, but the experience gained is simply too much. The best example came in the form of Jyoti Randhawa, who despite missing so many cuts this year persisted and was duly rewarded this week for his hard work and determination.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, unaffected by tariff row, hal unaffected by tariff row, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk 1A, D K Sunil, Indian express news, current affairs

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