July 10th to 16th , 2006
The highlights of last week’s news were
In our equipment review section we have for you the Odyssey White Steel Tri-Ball SRT Putter , and for those of you who are planning to go out and get one , we have made sure to include some useful putting tips in our tips section !!
Do have a look at our Classifieds to try and get a good deal on your golf equipment – and also check out our online shop in the hotdeals section .. our monsoon offer is on for another week , so this is the best time to buy!!
Keep the contest entries coming in … great prizes to be won and you wouldn’t want to miss out on those!
Until next week … keep visiting , and have a great game!!
July 03rd to 09th , 2006
- Jeev finishes Top 4 in Europe which is pretty much the highlight of the week
- The Q School for the Indian PGA tour in on this week
- We have updated the tips section and the rankings section where Jeev is
catching up on Atwal
- There are some awesome monsoon offers from Taylor Made - visit out hotdeals (golfshop) section!
Jeev's BIG Win!
It's been a big big week for Indian golf..
Jeev Milkha Singh won a title after 7 years. The China Open was co-sanctioned by both the Asian PGA as well as the European PGA. Yet no player on either tour could ruffle the calm that Jeev exuded, especially on his final round. Jeev was the picture of focus even through some rather bizarre circumstances that involved a spectator heckling him and handling his bal€l. A lesser mortal may have produced a different result. Not Jeev Milka Singh. Congratulations. Keep them coming Jeev.
Arjun Atwal too announced his arrival into form with a top 20 finish on the USPGA. There might be a shakeup in our rankings because of Jeev but Arjun's not letting go that easy.
Closer home, in news that will warm the hearts of Indian professionals, the prize money on the Amby Valley tour has been increased.
The classifieds have been updated. What you waiting for? The clubs you've been waiting for arent going to find themselves! Check out the classified sections now. Tired of second hand clubs.. check out our hotdeals (golfshop) section ...
And keep coming back.. till next week..
2006 - Looking Ahead
It’s time for New Year resolutions and since every golfer thinks he or she can play better - even Tiger Woods - most new year resolutions include practicing harder, working on the swing or putting stroke or maybe like me, just taking time out to play more often. Whichever it is, the good news is that it is quite easily achievable. One of the most famous quotes in the game, as said by South African Gary Player is that, “the harder you practice the better you get.” So whether its Tiger Woods or Mukesh Kumar, that, in a nutshell is what it takes to be the best.
However, the game is about a lot more that just playing well. It is seeped in tradition with rules and etiquette that reveal more than just a man’s character. It is a gentleman’s game, played more for the enjoyment of the sport and not just to win - contrary to present day belief where competitiveness and winning is everything.
For most golfers, it is a passion that spans a lifetime, a hobby that can be obsessive and sometimes quite frustrating or just a way of life. A golfer never wastes a beautiful day sitting indoors or a miserable one getting bored. They are a unique breed of enthusiasts with single minded devotion and commitment to the sport. Who else would wake up at four in the morning to catch a round of golf before heading to work or use up an entire annual leave to volunteer as an observer or helper at a tournament. Undoubtedly, it quickly becomes a way of life.
Luckily for Indian golfers, the last few years have seen a great boost in the game - the demand for more and better facilities has boosted the growth of world class golf courses in and around the metros and equipment and coaching is more readily available.
But this also increases the responsibility each of us have towards maintaining these ecological havens. ‘Repair pitch marks, replace divots, rake bunkers after use’ are just some of the signs posted around all golf courses. Unfortunately, few people take time out to leave the golf course just as they found it for those playing behind them. The result - a perfect round of golf can be spoilt if you have to play out of a large footprint in the bunker or a deep divot after hitting a beautiful drive down the fairway. Furthermore, it also takes its toll on the course over a period of time.
There are golfers who feel that they need to give something back to the game that has given them so much. Preserving these beautifully manicured courses is juts one way. However, some like veteran golfer Basad Ali prefer to do more. The Kolkottan who has won over 80 tournaments in a career spanning three decades, recently retired from professional golf and has joined the Protouch Golf Academy as the head coach where he will impart some of his experience to youngsters and beginners. This academy, headed by professional golfer Indrajit Bhalotia, has over a 140 students and aims to offer “affordable golf to the masses without compromising on quality and standards.” This is truly the beginning of a new era in Indian golf and just what is needed as more and more people take up the game.
So whatever your resolution, keep it simple and as they say in golf - play hard. Happy New Year and Happy Golfing!
The Teacher and The Student
- Indrajit Bhalotia -
A coach can’t turn a donkey into a racehorse. Have we ever thought that if the coach could make a player then a Butch Harmon would have produced 50 Tiger Woods and David Ledbetter another 100 Nick Faldos by now. There is no doubt that the coach plays a key role in the success of a player but I have no doubt that it is not more than 10%. I think I am in a unique position to say this as I am playing as actively as I am teaching.
This may raise some eyebrows but I would never go to a coach who has never produced a champion or has he never been one. Would you want to experiment with the future of your child by going to a coach with no proven record? Would you risk the future of your child with a person who has never produced a champion? Would you risk his future with a teacher who does not know what it is to stand on the 18th fairway needing to make par to win a tournament? These are questions we need to ask before choosing a coach. Once we choose a coach we need to trust him 100% and not go fishing around every second day.
The relationship of a student and teacher is based on total trust and once this is broken there is no point in going any further together. From my experiences I have had students who have reached the highest possible ranks on the junior tours only to go looking for ‘the secret’ at different places. Unfortunately there is no ‘secret’ to this game and it is extremely painful for a teacher to see a student ‘betray’ him. The true teacher treats his student like his own child and to see the unfaithfulness can be heartbreaking. The other side of the coin is the faith of the teacher in his student. If I knew my teacher did not have faith in my capabilities and did not believe I could be a champion why would I go to him? It is so important to go to a teacher who believes in his student.
If we read the traditional and ancient books of our
country and go by the Indian culture the relationship between and teacher and
student is unique and almost like that of a parent and child. It is built over
years and has to be concrete. Unfortunately we don’t see that happening in
today’s world where people look for instant success and quick fixes. Gone are
the days when we could speak about Jack Nicklaus and his Coach Jack Grout or Ben
Crenshaw and Tom Kite and their teacher Harvey Penick. Today there is no emotion
attached in a teacher student relationship and is too impersonal. Being both a
player and teacher I lose on both counts.
The Status of The Professional Golfer in India
By our special correspondent
Professional golf has come a long way in the last two decades in India. In the early 80s there were a bunch of caddies who would go out and play 10-15 tournaments on the Indian circuit with money provided by their ‘sahibs’. They would play for a few thousand rupees. Some of them played in slipper and with borrowed clubs.
Today the pros are a bunch of young boys from well to do families out to fulfill a dream where sky is the limit. There are of course the old timers and the ones who some people term as ‘caddy turned pros’. These bunch of professionals are playing for over 3.5 crores of rupees and each tournament has more prize money than what the entire circuit had about 15 years back.!
Today you see every professional well turned out, using the best of equipment, shoes apparel etc. we have the PGA tour officials traveling with the golfers making life so much easier. Everything is great, but wait, how do some people and clubs treat a professional golfer? Are they still treated as caddies? Are they welcome at every event? Without taking any names of clubs or individuals, two instances can easily point to the present situation faced by our professional golfers at some venues. About 3 years back, at a tour event professionals were not allowed to use the changing room of a club. They were allocated a small area in a basement with curtains. And what happens when a leading professional reports this to the press? He gets a life ban from the club, which is finally reversed after the intervention of PGA authorities. This year in one of the events players were asked to get out of the air conditioned sitting area and asked to sit in a tent where the temperature was around 40 degrees centigrade because that area was only for the members. There are many venues where players are only confined to a certain area of the club. The clubs can argue that a few professionals may not be ‘up to the clubs standards’ but then when we have an event at a venue don’t the players deserve a basic changing room, food and beverage area and a decent place to sit? Every club charges capitation fees and these basic facilities are definitely a part of the deal. Is it not high time that ‘The Indian Professional Golfer’ gets a little bit of respect and is not treated like a ‘caddy turned professional’. If all professionals stand up together and decide to stay united then these kind of situations will never rise. Whatever may be the stand the sponsor should never suffer nor the club, but is it not fair also to give the professional some respect, he is the guy who makes an event. He is the guy who leaves his family back home, lives like a nomad out of a suitcase for almost 6 months of the year. Is he asking for too much at his workplace?
Disclaimer: the views in the article are not that of
golftrade but of the person writing the article. Golftrade is not responsible
for any views of the author.
CRICKET and LESSER SPORTS
-Varun Sahay-
Before I start, I must confess that I am one of the biggest fans of the Indian cricket team, but that does not take the reality away from the fact that cricket gets too much importance in our country. Take for instance how many countries actually play competitive cricket? 8 to 10 out of which we cant really count 4, so we are left with 6 teams that compete amongst themselves to be the best in the world! When we make a semi final of a cricket tournament we go crazy and what have we done? we have just beaten one team to get there. We are top 6 in the world because there are only 6 teams that compete with each other. You take a sport like golf or soccer and the whole world plays it and to even break into the top 100 it takes a lot.
I think its more creditable for an Arjun Atwal to be world number 70 or a Sania Mirza to be world number 50 than for Anil Kumble to be world number 5. Who is Arjun Atwal competing against? Think about it, he has to beat hundreds of thousands professionals playing all over the world to get there while a cricket bowler has to compete with 20 players to be the best. Lets take the best batsman in the world, if each team has 6 genuine batsmen and their are 6 top teams you are the best batsman in the world and you are only competing against 36 men!. I know we can argue on this topic endlessly but this is the fact.
Look at the endorsements a top cricketer has, it runs into crores, how ironical is it when we see our favourite batsman making a duck and the commercial flashes up with him trying to do a rap number for a biscuit company!. It is shocking to know guys like Arjun Atwal, Jeev Singh etc have no real Indian sponsors and it is almost impossible to find one. Why is there such a gap between cricket and other sports? do the cricketers deserve what they get? Why does a Jeev Singh get harassed in customs while a cricketer is walking through the Vip channel? don't the other sportsmen give their sweat and blood for their country? do the cricketers really put in more than the other athletes ? these are questions for you to answer.
I will give you an example, when one of our top professional golfers was recently going abroad to play, at the customs clearance, the customs officer refused to stamp his passport with the details of his golf clubs and did not co operate with him giving him a really hard time and just 5 minutes later we had the Indian cricket team walking through the VIP channel with the officials running up and down trying to get autographs of these players. Where is this country heading? Lets face reality, its been 20 years since we won the world cup. Cant we beat 5 countries to win the cricket world cup? Who are our hero's?
After all, though we cant blame the corporates for giving a few
crores to the cricketers while the lesser sportsmen go begging for a few
thousands, because who recognizes a Arjun Atwal?, but every Indian knows a
Parthiv Patel who has scored more runs letting off 'byes' behind the wicket than
sometimes the highest scorer on the Indian team. Its all about the marketing and
the value of an athlete the corporates look for. Maybe someday there will be
another sport which gets it due in our country which is so starved of champions
and Maybe someday we will win the Cricket world cup.
WHY GOLF ?
Rashmi Baruah
Golf today can boast of not only being the richest domestic sport, but also the fastest growing one. And that’s pretty amazing, for a sport that was considered to be for the elite, or just a weekend game for retired people till a few years ago. The sport now is all-encompassing, as anyone from 6 – 80 are taking to it, like (to use a cliché) a duck takes to water. And probably the biggest reason for this change is the way our golfers are doing the country proud on the international golfing scene.
Arjun Atwal from Kolkata has earned around $ 800,000 this year – that’s almost 3 times what Sachin Tendulkar managed during the same period. Arjun is the first Indian to have qualified for the prestigious USPGA tour, and though he took time off last year for the birth of his son and thus could not retain his full card, he’s come back with a vengeance this time around, making the cut in all the 12 events he had entered so far, and almost winning a couple of them. Jyoti Randhawa and Jeev Milkha Singh are making waves on the Asian and Japanese circuits respectively, while the likes of Mukesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Shiv Kapur and others of their ilk are definitely catching the public eye. And not to forget the constantly increasing crop of youngsters – Ajeetesh Sandhu, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Kanica Minocha, Vaishvi Sinha, Meghna Bal, who are all making the game look so attractive.
But we must remember that players alone cannot make a game exciting for a first timer. In today’s world, one always wants to know what the returns are going to be like. In a game like golf, one spends so much time playing 18 holes; and it definitely is not as cheap as buying a football and knocking about with a few friends on a muddy field. But the returns that one gets from golf, one never gets from any other game. The major thrill that any golfer, whether a professional, occasional or amateur will say, is that of playing against oneself. “In golf, you play against yourself, your own abilities, your handicap and how to improve it constantly. You play with others, but you don’t compete against them.” And once the golfing bug hits, it’s a life long affair.
Now-a-days, however, if its not a viable career option, money wise, not many would take to a sport seriously. The professional circuit in India is growing each year in times of prize money, while Corporate India has realised the amazing powers of golf as a promotional vehicle. Pro-Ams and Corporates’ Day Out are popular tools of networking, and form an integral part of the business plan of many blue chip companies.
“Enchanting! Addictive!” These are just some of the adjectives that Nawaz, a corporate executive used when I asked him about his love for the game. His office is just about a kilometre from a golf course, and Nawaz keeps his golfing shoes in the car and golf bag in the office, for he never knows when he might be able to take in a game even in the middle of the week. “For a lot of business deals are also done on the golf course, and a client might want to take in 9 holes early in the morning before clinching a deal over breakfast at the club.”
Nawaz now wants his 5-year old daughter to take up the sport seriously, and maybe in the next 10 years, make sure that she is on her way to becoming a professional. “That’s where the money, prestige and glamour is. I want her to get all that and more through something that she enjoys doing, instead of like me, who had to struggle to reach where I am now.”
Abhijeet, a young man in his 20s, who works for an event management company and has got a chance to interact with several youngsters who are taking to the game at a serious level, has this to say: “The attitude of these kids really undergo a tremendous change – they start off as regular children, but very soon, one can see that their approach to life becomes more mature. The way they talk and behave, the way they carry themselves, everything becomes more refined. I think that comes from the game, for it requires a lot of discipline. In any other game, you might not see it starting at the exact time that has been scheduled. But in golf, if you have a tee time, of say 7:47 am, you better be there 5 minutes before time, or else you might miss out playing that day altogether. Though the usual way is that you are penalised 2 strokes. Once you inculcate such habits, you tend to apply it to the rest of your life too, and eventually it makes you a well-formed personality.”
People in India are finally waking up to the fact
that golf is probably the one game that has such an international presence,
unlike cricket, which is played in just about 20 countries worldwide. And the
pleasure, as well as the money from the game might be just that much better too.
Arriving in the British Isles after two years my memory of links courses had become quite generalized - mainly reminiscing of the wind, gorse bushes and sprawling fairways. Yesterday, as I walked along the course, I once again enjoyed the beauty and experience of golf in this country, where it all started and much before the Americans changed the notion of the game to immaculately manicured tree-lined courses.
The clubhouses here are usually quite non descript, easily blending into the horizon, nothing large or very fancy and usually in keeping with the local architecture. We started walking along the fairway, in the bridle path amidst the grass and bushes guarding the course on either side. The downs on either side offered a breath taking view, while the mist hanging over the sea formed a backdrop for those heading back to the clubhouse.
As we walked along, I noticed the heather bushes adding a soft lavender colour to the surrounding area and little daisies amidst the lush green surroundings along with the soft white flowers of the cow grass peeping through the tall grass.
Though it was a warm sunny day, too warm for the English, up on the golf course the wind blew directly into our faces chilling the nose and almost numbing our lips. On a windy or rainy day, almost a regularity in the British Isles, the temperature up here is freezing and as one heads back to the 18th green sometimes it is difficult to even feel the hands and numb nose.
The undulating fairways are almost like tiny hills and unlike American courses were each fairway is well demarcated, here one has to stand and pick out the green as a few can be spotted around the fairway. Though the fairways do not inter-cross, yet one can hit the wrong fairway if the wind carries the ball across and can easily play it back from there. Pits covered with gorse bushes await those who get too confident and it is difficult to find the ball or if found, play it from there. The roughs also make it impossible to find the ball and once located, one can just about chip it or hack it back into play.
Down near the fields cows watch you as you carry along with your business of playing golf and up on the hills horses ride by discreetly. Occasionally one receives a cheerful greeting from someone walking their happy dog, with the latter busy enjoying the smells and secrets of the countryside. Here, life exists in harmony with nature's beauty and it has not been pulled apart by man and restructured to make it more beautiful.
In Sussex, where we happened to be that evening, the downs conclude as stark white chalk cliffs giving way to the sea. As Tennyson said, it is a "green Sussex fading into blue." The East Brighton Golf Course, which we had the pleasure of walking and look forward to playing later this week, had recently celebrated it's centenary. It stands majestically overlooking the countryside around and down on the sea, in keeping with Tennyson's description of Sussex.
1st August, 2005, Kolkata: Golf is the richest paying domestic sport in the country. Yes, it is true much more than domestic cricket or soccer. it is tough to believe but the leading Indian golfer earns more than 25 lakhs in a year in prize money alone today, and the 70th golfer earns about a lakh. All this for working an average of 20 weeks a year, 4 days a week.
What is encouraging today is that, it is not only that playing professionals that can make a living out of this game but the teachers, course managers, event managers, greenkeepers, retailers, club repairers etc. can also make a living out of this sport.
Golf shops are a flourishing business today with the import duties coming down. The fact that there are three golf shops within twenty yards of the KGA course in Bangalore not counting the pro shop at the club, one can imagine how much golf shops have flourished. The merchandising and manufacturing of golf bags, gloves, caps etc have given a livelihood to many a people. The new breed of teachers from educated backgrounds have made teaching a lucrative and organised sector. Golf courses are springing up with the help of the government to promote tourism, and this has opened up the market for course managers and green keepers. With corporates coming into the game in a big way there is no better business than event management even though one must admit the competition is tough.With the increasing number of golfers and golf sets, specialised club repair facilities are coming up too. Golf tours are also catching up in the travel business now. The fact that the prize money is going up means that the caddy is also earning a decent living. Tiger Wood's caddy is the highest tax paying athlete of New Zealand!. If we look at Mukesh Kumars caddy's earnings, he is estimated to have earned around rupees two lakh last year, which is as much an executive of a multinational company could earn.
With close to 3.5 crores in prize money today the total golf industry can be roughly estimated to be worth rupees 10 crores. If you consider that my first cheque as a professional in 1989 for finishing 20th was rupees one thousand and fifty, today in the PSEB Open the 20th golfer earned a whopping rupees seventy thousand, twenty thousand more than the total prize money I played for in my first event!!!. I cant help but congratulate Tiger Sports Marketing for its contribution specially in popularising the sport through the media. It is now upto the golf clubs to open up its driving ranges, academies to offer affordable junior programmes to the public, making it easier for the masses to play, hence making the game more popular and contributing towards the growth of this industry. I can safely say that the golf industry is the fastest growing industry in the sports market and is an excellent sector to be in, where only the sky is the limit.
Young Pros
Watching last years Sports Awards - which are held in association with the Laureus Sports Awards - it was encouraging to hear Shekhar Suman say that while it is good to support cricket, it should not be done at the expense of every other sport in the country. In a nation where everything comes to a standstill when the men in blue take to the field, it is encouraging to find talent thriving in sports that have little or none backing from the government and even less mass appeal. Golf is no different. While few outside the game of golf know of Arjun Atwal – the first Indian to earn complete playing rights on the PGA Tour, the Mecca of golf – those who do play the sport just know of Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa. However, a new breed of youngsters back home, determined to follow in Atwals footsteps are already demonstrating winning ways to success in their first few year on the professional tour.
The first name that comes to mind is that of Rahil Gangjee. Equipped with a smooth swing, perfect ball contact and confidence in his abilities, 25-year-old comfortably won the Asian Tour’s Volkswagen China Masters in Beijing last month, making him the youngest Indian to win abroad. His coach Ajay Gupta has always believed in Rahil’s abilities, who won the HT Open in Kanpur in his rookie year on the Indian tour, followed by a win on the Asian Tour, also in his rookie year. “It is unbelievable and yet to sink in. I won as a rookie on the Indian tour in 2002 and have now won as a rookie here,” he said after his victory. “I played dream golf, making just one bogey in the final 36-holes.”
Youngsters like Rahil have not only taken the risks involved in a professional golf career but also have the ability to take decisions and stand by them. Gangjee, who started the year by going through qualifying school, now holds a two-year exemption to play the Asian tour as well as a guaranteed entry to every tournament held for the rest of the year as he is placed 16th on the current order of merit with US $50,732 in prize money earnings this so far year. However, though he will play the 1.5 million dollar European tour-co-sanction BMW Open in Shanghai this week, the youngster from Kolkotta will miss the next event in order to continue with his holiday as per his previous plans. Unlike children who look to the sidelines for support from their parents, who follow them around golf courses, tennis courts or track fields, this generation is confident of their abilities and the selfish determination required to succeed.
While Rahil has lived up to the USPGA’s saying that ‘Anything’s Possible’, Chandigarh’s Gurbaaz Mann, who also went to the Asian Tour qualifying school this year is yet to taste professional success abroad but has earned the respect of his seniors. An under-graduate at university in the United States, Mann was allowed to participate in the qualifying school for the Professional Golfers Association of India before his parents agreed to give their consent. Apart from earning a place for the rest of the season, this 21-year-old, he attracted everyone’s attention by finishing second in the 2003 qualifying school. Known for his long-hitting, he currently leads the race for the Rookie of the Year on the PGA of India’s tour following a couple of top five finishes this season. “My best finish so far has been the fourth place at the HT Open, which was played at the Classic Golf Resort.
Golf chose Baaz more than he chose the game. “I just happened to get into the game by chance as I was trying to be a tennis player,” says Baaz, whose father was ranked one of the top tennis players in Chandigarh. “Having played some golf, as both my parents are avid golfers, I represented my school in a junior inter-school tournament in Delhi. I was playing off a handicap of 14 but went out and shot two-over par. I then went to Bangalore the following week and finished fourth in a sub-junior tournament. However, I was still not too serious and only got hooked after I made the Indian team, while I was in class 11 and went to Singapore to play the Singapore Open Junior Championship, where I beat Ashok Kumar to win the tournament. That was it,” adds Gurbaaz, affectionately called Baaz, who has been playing seriously for the last eight years. A regular at the Chadigarh golf course, which is like his office, he “would love to play on the US tour some day.”
Ashok Kumar, the youngster who represented India as an amateur, turned pro and has established himself as one of the leading players of the country by leading the current Order of Merit. Peppy and oozing self esteem, he qualified for the Asian tour this year and has already surprised few of his contemporaries on the Asian tour by his ball-striking capabilities. With a couple of Indian tour victories already under his belt – he won the Noida Open 2002 and the Servo Masters in Digboi and the Sir Padampat Singhania Open in Noida this season - he will card a respectable year on the Asian tour as well, having already finished tied 19th at the Myanmar Open in February.
Delhi’s Naman Dawar is another new kid on the block. Blessed with a good swing and excellent temperament at just 24, he has already gained the experience of handling pressure that comes with being ahead of the field. The son of two doctors, therefore, nicknamed ‘doc’, golf came naturally to him as he lived near the Delhi Golf Course and accompanied his father to the golf course. “I played junior golf but very little amateur golf and was not too serious about it. So I decided to turn pro and pursue it seriously when I was just 18 and a half as I was going to do so sooner or later,” says Naman, who parents both practice medicine. “My mother works at AIIMS, while my father has a private practice. However, my dad wanted me to play golf when he found out that I had an interest in the game and both have supported me completely. Infact, my dad was very excited when I turned pro, probably even more than I was,” he adds. He finds the parents of all the youngsters his age, who are playing seriously, very encouraging, specially their fathers. “I think all our dads are more into the game than we are. Even when we are out playing tournaments, they constant call someone we know or each other to find out how we have played and what the scores are.”
While Naman aims to be where Arjun Atwal is playing today, his fellow professionals feel that he should be ready for the Asian Tour next year. “Finishing a tournament in the top three or being in contention makes you feel your game is getting better, that one can handle pressure of being there. I played the second last group on the final day in Noida, where I finished fifth and was happy with my performance there. I think anytime you can finish well when you need to or produce the goods when you need to - like I did at the Indian Open where I shot 69 to make the cut - that is basically what you practice and aim to achieve day after day,” he says. Wise words from a player who is yet to take on the experience and heartbreak of the sporting world, but Dawar seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and one that will hold him in good stead.
All these young golfers have played junior and amateur golf and professional golf seemed to be the next step. After tasting success as an amateur, Zai Kipgen has been one of the best youngsters produced by the Delhi Golf Course. However, a road accident left him injured for almost an entire season and he is slowly making a comeback. Other talented golfers also trying to make their mark in the difficult and competitive world of professional golf are Rahul Ganapathy and Jaiveer Virk.
2005 - In Review
It’s been a good year in the world of golf and even more so for Indian golf. Professionals all over the world have played the game in its true spirit, raising the level of competition to new heights and encouraging present day legends. 2005 saw world number one Tiger Woods regain his billing as the best in the world while one of the game’s most dominant player, Jack Nicklaus made his exit from competitive golf. Arjun Atwal earned his place on the PGA Tour alongside compatriot and friend Daniel Chopra, while Shiv Kapur emerged as the latest talent to take Indian golf to new heights.
However, the year belonged to Tiger who is undoubtedly the best in the world. Following a year spent reconstructing his swing, Woods completed his second career grand slam with two major victories - his fourth Masters green jacket and his second British Open title. And he was not too far behind in the remaining two majors - he finished second to Micheal Campbell at the U.S Open and tied fourth at the PGA Championship as Phil Mickleson won the second major championship of his career. With six victories and US$ 10,628,024 in earnings, Tiger finished the year way ahead of second placed Vijay Singh.
Though Vijay failed to improve upon his phenomenal performance of 2004, he finished the year ranked second on the Money List with four victories, earning US$ 8,017,336 in thirty events. He had 18 Top-ten finishes - same as last year -and most of his statistics remained comsistent.
Meanwhile Nicklaus played his last Masters and then waved a final goodbye to all his fans as he walked down the Swilken bridge at St. Andrews for the last time - the members of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews moved The Open it to St. Andrews to make Nicklaus’ last major even more special, playing it on one of his favorite courses.
And while all this was happening on the world’s elitist golfing arena, one Indian was a part of all the action. Arjun Atwal started the year on a ‘conditional’ status after finishing 2004 outside the top 125 on the PGA Tour. However, he has had a great year since. He finished 82nd on the 2005 Money List with US$ 963,768 in earnings and the highlight of the year came when he almost won his first PGA Tour event, losing a playoff to finish tied second at the BellSouth Classic. Meanwhile Swedish passport holder, Daniel Chopra who honed his golfing skills at the Delhi Golf Club kept his card for the second consecutive year, finishing 90th on the Money List.
They both hailed Shiv Kapur as the next star of Indian golf and his performance this year proved them right. Shiv finished his rookie year on the Asian Tour ranked fourth on the Order of Merit after his maiden victory at the Volvo Masters of Asia and had little competition for the Rookie of the Year award.
No summation of a year can be complete without mentioning the LPGA Tour. The other half of the golf world was ruled by Annika Sorenstam who won ten tournaments in 20 starts - displaying a level of consistency that ranks her alongside Tiger Woods as one of the best athletes in the world.
The number of young golfers winning tournaments is on the rise indicating a bright future - Sean O’Hair won the John Dere Classic a day before his 23rd birthday and also carded a runner-up finish in his rookie year to occupy 18th place on the PGA Tour Money List , 17-year-old Thai Chinarat Phadungsil won the Double A International Open as an amateur becoming the youngest winner on the Asian tour, Shiv Kapur won the Volvo Masters of Asia becoming the youngest Indian to win on the Asian Tour while 19-year-old Paula Creamer who won the Rookie of the Year honors on the LPGA Tour on the strength of two victories and 11 top-ten finishes which saw her finish second on the money list, are just some of them.
However, rising star Michelle Wei, who has been hailed as the next Tiger Woods and was featured on the cover of Fortune magazine when she turned pro days before her 16th birthday did not have such a great year - she was disqualified in her pro debut event after taking a drop that was a few inches closer to the hole. It was a similar year for Ashok Kumar who failed to play his minimum number of events on the Asian Tour, hence loosing his status on the tour.
But what keeps the tour going are the stories of success. Jason Gore qualified for the U.S Open inspite of starting the week ranked 818th in the world and having to deal with a break into his car that left him without any clothes. His luck changed over the weekend and he played in the final group on Sunday, starting the round tied for second place. However, a final round 84th saw him finish the tournament 49th but it was just the break he needed. He won three consecutive Nationwide tour events which helped him enter the 84 Lumber Classic on the PGA Tour - which he won!