I am more confident now, says Kapur

Ace Indian golfer Shiv Kapur will take with him the sweet and bitter memories of the 142nd Open Championships after ending his campaign with an even-par 71 here on Sunday.

Kapur will leave Muirfield with his head held high after a dramatic week where he led briefly in the first round before settling for a 68.

“It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I can be up there on the leaderboard because it shows that I can compete with the best players. I just need to be more consistent and sharpen each area of my game a little bit so that I can be right there in the mix,” said Kapur.

The Indian restored some pride when he made a stunning 15-feet birdie putt on the last hole to end his week at Muirfield on 15-over-par 299. “I started on such a high with the adrenaline rush. Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment when I got off to a rough start but I finished with a little bit of pride and my head held high today.
“You don’t want to walk off the 18th green with drooping shoulders and not being happy with what you’ve done. I’m glad the bad round was yesterday and not today so I can walk away with a smile,” he said.

Seeing his name up on the leaderboard, albeit for a brief moment in the opening round, will forever be etched as one of the best experiences in his career.

“It is easy to pick out the best moment. It had to be when I saw Kapur leading in the best tournament in the world. For years and years, I’ve watched The Open and I thought it would be nice to have my name on that yellow leaderboard. That dream came true, though momentarily,” he smiled.

“I learnt a lot, it has been a great experience and I won’t trade it with anything. It was great to be on top the leaderboard and great to learn from yesterday. I just have to move on, box on, take the positives and brush away the negatives,” said Kapur.