I want to break into European Tour, says upbeat Bhullar

Ever since his brilliant metamorphism from a talented amateur golfer to a successful pro, Gaganjeet Bhullar has achieved most of the goals that he has set for himself. However, there remains one failure -- inability to break into the European Tour.

Completely bogged after two consecutive unsuccessful attempts despite playing good golf, the 24-year-old revealed that he now intends to give the Japan Tour a crack at the end of the year. A hot favourite to win the Hero Indian Open after triumphing in the Venetian Macau Open last week, the Kapurthala pro talked about the decision behind moving to Japan, on his chances at the KGA during a media interaction on Wednesday.

On European Tour plans: On that part, I’m quite frustrated because I’ve been playing good for the last 2-3 years but have not been able to take my game to the next level. Mentally, I feel I should have been on the European Tour by now. However, it all depends on what I do in the next couple of months. I’ve got four tournaments -- CIMB Classic, WGC-HSBC Champions, Barclays Singapore Open and UBS Hong Kong Open. I’ve got an European Tour membership and if I do well in these tournaments, then I will get a category on the Tour through which I can make my card. So if that happens, it will be nice otherwise I’ll be going for the Japan Q School.

On his Japan plans:  The last couple of years, I’ve failed in my Europe mission so I’m go to try my luck in Japan. Apart from that, the main reason is the world ranking points are much higher on the Japan Tour than the Asian Tour. That’s the place where Jeev (Milkha Singh) played really well and got into the top 50 in the world. Ryo Ishikawa and Todd Hamilton won a tournament in Japan and broke into the top-50 in the world. If you are inside the top-50 then you get more invites to play on the PGA Tour.

On whether he is playing  his best golf now:  If you look at the scores and statistics I would say yes. But there is so much more scope to improve my game, at times I make silly mistakes. Golf is all about consistency, it is about performing week in week out.

On Lahiri and him being in the spotlight: The responsibility is on our shoulders and I guess we are ready for the challenge this time.

Lots of hope rest on Anirban, Himmat Singh Rai and me. Himmat has won a tournament on the Asian Tour, Anirban is doing really well. I feel the next generation is ready to take over.