Spotlight on Indians among the stars

The absence of Jeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian on the European PGA, might be a little disappointing, but this tournament is certainly not lacking in star material. Teeing-off tomorrow will be three men who between them have won four Indian Opens this decade – Ali Sher in 1991 and 1993; Jim Rutledge in 1995 and defender Fryatt. Also in the field are Gaurav Ghei, winner of the 1995 Gadgil Western Masters, and Ted Purdy, champion at the 1997 Hero HondaMasters.

But the man on a hot streak is defender Edward Fryatt, who relishes being back on the course. Fryatt, an Englishman, who went to the US because his father went over to play in the first American professional soccer league in 1976, has won five times in Asia and only three weeks back won the Malaysian Open beating Ryder Cup hero, Lee Westwood.

Fryatt arrived late on Tuesday. “Ideally I would have liked a couple of days to prepare for the event,” said Fryatt, who came through the 1998 APGA Qualifying school riding on a brilliant third round 62 in Malaysia. Fryatt incidentally holds the course record of 63 logged last year.

In the past few years, the Indians in the spotlight have been Ali Sher, by virtue of his two Indian Open wins, Jeev Milkha and Gaurav Ghei. But the trio, which is also well on its way to making a mark in Asia and quite possibly elsewhere, too, comprises Arjun Atwal, Vivek Bhandari and Jyoti Randhawa. Bhandari, fourth in the 1998 APGA Tour at Myanmar last week, had two top 10finishes in 1997. Randhawa who was 49th on the Order of Merit could well be much further up this year.

One of the notable absentee is Pakistan’s Taimur Hassan, winner of the London Myanmar Open last week. One of the most interesting groups will feature Chang Tse-Peng, Bhandari and Rutledge. Another interesting group has Ali Sher, Charli Wi, the 1997 KL Open winner, and Mardan Mamat, who with Ghei had qualified for the British Open last year.