Three good rounds insufficient

The party on the eve of the tournament was indeed a life-saver. All the distractions from telephone calls asking for my father8217;s Milkha Singh whereabouts and reactions on whether his record in 400m was broken or not, plus questions earlier in the day about when I was going to win a title next could have played on my mind. Fortunately, the party by the sponsors, Hero Honda, was a great relief. The relaxed atmosphere, the good food and the music did me a world of good.

Though I did get back to bed a little later than I would have liked on the first morning of such a big tournament, I felt rather good and eager when I got to the course. For the past few weeks since I came back from the European PGA, there have been questions about why I have not been able to put together a title win for the last two years. I know I have been playing well; various aspects of my game have improved a great deal, but at the same time I realise I have been playing three good rounds in a tournament. And to win I must play fourgood rounds. I have tended to mess up one round and slip down.

I hope I can rectify that here. I have been stroking the ball really well and in putting only one ball went past the hole.

This afternoon I was with Mike Cunning and Shiv Prakash, both great competitors. Mike and I have not won for sometime, but generally we don8217;t talk about that. We know it will all come together sometime soon. I think he is the best ball stroker on the APGA Tour. Shiv has had a good domestic season, though he was patchy today. Playing with these two was indeed good.

I started well with one under for the first nine after starting on the 10th tee. I had birdies on the 12th and 14th from six feet and five respectively. I dropped a stroke on 16th after I went about a foot off the green with the second shot and then three-putted. I was happy still.

But it was the next nine that really has put me in a good position.