It was just not my day at the Hero Indian Open at the KGA, which was looking great and we had very good gallery the whole afternoon. That was really encouraging for the players and augurs well for big ticket golf in Bangalore.
Personally, I had a few unlucky breaks on Sunday and things did not go my way. I had two doubles, on the ninth and 16th, and had my first over par round.
I went into the deep rough and didn’t have great shots from there. I did hit the ball well on most other occasions, but a couple of mistakes can prove costly and it showed as I finished with a 73 and dropped to four-under for the week and outside top-20.
I managed to catch a little bit of action as it unfolded towards the end after finishing my own round. Richie Ramsay looked like cruising through, but a suddent hiccup on the last hole with a three-putt meant Thaworn Wiratchant, who was one group ahead of him, got his chance. Thaworn, one of the greats of Asian golf and with whom I have played with many times, had finished at 14-under. Ramsay who was at 15-under on 18th tee dropped a bogey and fell into a play-off.
Again I could see the pressure get to him and he hit his tee shot into water and despite a fantastic third shot he went into a double bogey and Wiratchant after missing a 12-footer for par won with a bogey. That was his second Indian Open and hats off for being there for so long. He is 45 years old and still so good.
There is one player worth looking out for future and that it is Panuphol Pittyarat of Thailand, who was third at 13-under. He is young and very good at short game and also hits long. Shiv Kapur was the best Indian in fourth place – he was fourth in Macau also, so watch out for him – and Anirban Lahiri did very well on the weekend to come from one-under to 10-under and tied fifth. Chiragh Kumar also made it to the top-10, and Jyoti Randhawa was just outside in 12th.
As for me, I would love to win or do well each week, but that’s not how it goes in golf. I feel disappointed because it was the Indian Open, but believe me, I will be back again and again till I finally win the Indian Open. That’s how badly I want it.
But for now it is CIMB Classic with PGA Tour players, then Singapore Open with more world class players and then the final stages of the season.
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