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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi Golf Club is renowned to be one of the tightest layouts any professional can hope to encounter, and despite the redesign by South African legend Gary Player, it played true to its reputation on the opening day of the DGC Open on Thursday.
Local knowledge and experience are significant advantages and there were more than 10 Indian names among the top 10 on the leaderboard after the first round, with Kolkata pro Shankar Das heading the field by one stroke along with Aussie Travis Smyth at five-under 67.
There was a heavy local flavour behind them with the likes of Veer Ahlawat, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Karandeep Kochhar, Varun Parikh, Aman Raj, Shamim Khan, Sachin Baisoya, Manu Gandas and M Dharma in the mix, as was DGC member Shiv Kapur.
The Lodhi Course of the DGC is so tight that Smyth didn’t even bring his driver to the venue. “I’d like to know if this is actually the tightest golf course in the world because if there is a course out there tighter than this then I don’t want to play it,” said the 27-year-old after opening the Asian Tour event with an eagle, four birdies and a solitary bogey.
“My strength is my iron play so not having my driver out here, I am quite happy with that. I took the driver out of my bag for the first time in my life.”
Das, 39, is a seasoned campaigner on the domestic circuit with seven PGTI titles. But he hasn’t tasted success for more than four years. He had the driver in his bag but resisted its use, and reaped rich dividends in the form of six birdies and a solitary dropped shot. Both the leaders are yet to win on the Asian Tour.
“This is a very good course. Earlier there were flat greens, but now there are more high greens. Now not only do you have to hit the tee shot well, but you have to hit the second shot really well, then only you get a chance for a birdie. Overall, I feel I am getting my game back,” Das reflected on the changes in the layout.
He has waited a long time to get near the top of a leaderboard with a back injury and then the pandemic resulting in no tournaments for him to play.
Familiarity not enough
At one stage, it seemed that home boy Kapur will also finish around the top of the leaderboard before he faltered in the second half of his round.
“I started off quite well, was quite happy with my round, was four under for the first 10 holes. Then I hit a bit of a speed bump on the back nine. I didn’t quite have my A game today. I made a couple of sloppy bogeys coming in and that made the difference between a good and an average round,” said the four-time winner on the Asian Tour who triumphed in the 2017 Panasonic Open at the same venue.
“On a course like this lined with trees and bushes, there’s no margin for error. One loose shot here is two, three shots gone and the big numbers can really hurt you around here.”
Overall, players from the morning wave had much the better of conditions with Ahlawat the rare afternoon starter to make good progress (tied third).
“I was going well and could have capitalised further but for a bogey on 12. Two birdies after that helped me further and I just kept it going with pars on my last two holes,” he said. .
Prominent Indian names like Jeev Milkha Singh, Rashid Khan, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Rahil Gangjee, S Chikkarangappa, Mukesh Kumar, SSP Chawrasia, Gaurav Ghei and Amandeep Johl finished the day well behind the pace.
Earlier, the 86-year-old Player – a winner of nine Majors – hit the ceremonial tee shot of the US$500,000 event and later held an hour-long golf clinic.
