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 father’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.

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This afternoon I was with Mike Cunning and Shiv Prakash, both great competitors. Mike and I have not won for sometime, but generally we don’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.