Indians look to extending streak

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14: It is now two-and-a-half years since any foreign player won an APGA event in India. During this period, two editions ...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14: It is now two-and-a-half years since any foreign player won an APGA event in India. During this period, two editions each of the Wills Indian Open and the Hero Honda Masters have been held and each time, it has produced an Indian winner. Feroze Ali and Arjun Atwal won the Wills Indian Open in 1998 and 1999 while Jyoti Randhawa won back to back at Hero Honda.

Barring a few top notchers like Des Terbalanche, the runner-up at the Malaysian Open behind Taiwanese Yeh Wei Tze, Kyi Hla Han, winner of the Order of Merit in 1999 and Jeev Milkha, who pulled out due to an injury, the field for the $ 300,000 meet is quite daunting.

Indians will make up nearly one-third of the 154-man field, with South Africans and Japanese also present in large numbers. The Wills Indian Open is the fourth event on this year’s Davidoff APGA Tour and making the field strong will be the winners of each of the first three events — Yeh Wei Tze, winner of Malaysian Open, Prayad Marksaeng, winner of the Casino Filipino Open and James Kingston, winner of the London Myanmar Open.

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Defending Indian Open champion Arjun Atwal has one of the best records in APGA events in India having finished fourth, fourth and fifth in the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Hero Honda Masters. He said, “I’ve been playing well this year, and started out well at the Malaysian Open tournament (he was ninth) earlier in the season. My swing feels good, and so far, I’m pleased with my driving and putting.”

Jyoti Randhawa, sixth in the 1999 Order of Merit in 1999, the two-time Hero Honda Masters champion (1998 and ’99), is in good nick. He was sixth at the London Myanmar Open and the best Asian at Dubai Open in the 37th place last week.

Also in the fray is Gaurav Ghei, the first Indian to win an APGA event in 1995. Having worked on his swing, he showed good results with a third place finish in London Myanmar Open.

On Wednesday, there will be the customary Pro-Am, which will see 600 pros and 180 amateurs, including some captains of the industry tee off at the Classic Golf Resort.

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