A week after the walk with the Tiger, Damien McGrane is having a walk in the park at the DGC. Don’t fret if you haven’t heard of the genial Irishman who is the leader at the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters. Neither had Tiger Woods, before the world number 1 found out who was joining him in the leadergroup on Day 3 at the Dubai Desert Classic last week, and leading him by two strokes. McGrane found his way up after a long grind with the Irish PGA, having joined with high hopes as the Irish Boys champion among other titles, turning pro at 20. “Golf is a difficult game for me and I have to make the most of what I do. So I play my own game at tournaments. Play my own game, sink a few putts and hopefully the numbers add up correctly at the end of the day,” he’d said once. Two days in-a-row, he’s played his own game to head the list that includes Jyoti Randhawa and Co, the DGC owners. He admitted he was reminded of home today as the weather turned frosty, but that is anyway understandable after a four-week stretch of travel, even for the self-confessed traveller. “Absolutely, it was the same as being at home. but it was cold and the ball was losing a bit of distance,” explaining the reason for the lack of many red-inked scores today on the board. The 37-year-old had an interesting Christmas last year. Having planned an Antarctic trip, he found out that his ship had been damaged, and there would be no hope of a repair in the holiday week. So instead, he was off to Chile. He plans to do more of the same tomorrow, though he knows what the Indian crowd is looking for.“They tagged along when they realised I was on the leaderboard. But of course it’s all about the Indian players this week for the Indian spectators.“I’ve found myself a formula on the course, with the clubs and all, so I’ll just try to repeat that.”
