It’s a putting contest at the CGR

Most visitors, consisting largely of the media, spent the day finding their way around the course and the large expanse that surrounds it. Standing at the 19th hole, as the ITC hospitality area is called, all the naked eye can see is wide fairways spotted with huge bunkers that disappear into the horizon.

And, that is probably the best way to describe this Nicklaus course. Large fairways and quick greens, buggy tracks and signposts — the course is a reflection of golf resorts all over the world. And the course itself is typically American in its design. The rough is the only obstacle that comes in a player’s way of shooting a six or a seven under par, and that too is currently down due to the cold weather which does not encourage such growth.

However, such a setup makes the game a putting contest, a phenomenon that has been observed on the USPGA tour where the fairways are immaculate and the greens even better. As the saying goes, "you hit for show but putt for doe," similarly, often on events played in the US, most players hit the fairways and the greens and whoever is hot with the putter takes home the trophy, as Jyoti demonstrated today. Hitting seventeen greens in regulation, he made six single putts to card a bogey free six under and tie for the lead.

Unfortunately, this course does not leave much to the imagination as compared to the Royal Calcutta Golf Course and the Delhi Golf Course, the others where this event has been held in the past. In the latter two, a player has to negotiate a lot of trouble. Comparatively, here the rough saves almost a stroke. All a player needs to do in order to get out of it is to implement maximum wrist power and hit it hard enough to get it onto the putting surface. And, whether a player is the DGC’s treacherous bushes or the tanks of the Royal, a golfer always has more than one shot — either to play it safe or to pull off a wonderful recovery. As a result, if the wind doesn’t blow at the CGR, winning scores could go down to sixteen or seventeen under par. And if it does, well, as numerous players have already commented, anything can happen.

Yet, with all due respect to the designers, this course too will unleash its potential with time. And, it may exhibit some of it this week if the wind comes up as it has been threatening to do all week.