Only tigers at home

On the other hand, Arjun Atwal, Gaurav Ghei, Vivek Bhandari, Amandeep Johl and Amritinder Singh have gained immense confidence from participating and playing alongside European players, some of whom are now on the USPGA and EPGA tours. These guys go into local events with more authority and a stronger game plan.

One of the reasons that so many of our local pros have not brought in the scores customary of them is probably due to the problems they have had trying to tame the greens at the CGR. The speed that these generate is much more than the slower putting surfaces that we are used to on our home courses. Even the course manager was surprised when the stimp meter showed 14 for a downhill putt on the first, with the wind behind it.

And Vijay, who was unhappy with his 73 today, blamed his score on his putting. Amateur golfer Ashok Kumar was another Indian player who added that he had had problems with his putting. Similarly, Trevor Immelman, a European Challenge tour player who is currently tied for fourth place, came to India after winning the Kenyan Open on his tour. Therefore, he starts with confidence that he has gained in Europe where the competition is stronger.

Secondly, most of our pros do not hit the ball as long and have to rely on their chipping and putting. On a course like the CGR, where there are no restrictions and one can hit out, the disadvantages come when a par is no longer good enough. With players like Sammy Daniels hitting the greens, scores hit a new low. And contrary to earlier belief that length does not matter, its is easier to make birdies when a player is regularly on thegreen.

So even though Ali Sher has won the Indian Open twice and Feroz Ali followed in his footsteps, the only way to increase Indian representation in Asia is for our pros to make it to the APGA circuit. Not only will this improve their game and bring it up a couple of notches, but it will also make scoring on the Indian tour more competitive.