×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Quail Hollow set for some stirring action

Last Updated 10 August 2017, 18:54 IST

It is showtime tonight at the 99th PGA Championships. Thursday has a different ring to it when it is time to get to the first (or maybe the tenth), tee. It makes you buzz and get everything in order to hit the first shot. That’s what it means for us when the action gets underway at the Quail Hollow.

I am out in the first round at 1.20 pm alongside Danny Lee and Marc Leishman. With Indian time being nine and a half hours ahead, it will translate to 10.50 pm back home.

At Quail Hollow I had a couple of days of very good practice. There were some nine-hole sessions on course, testing out all the spots where I am prone to go with my hitting. During these sessions one gets a chance to hit more than one ball and also place the ball in places where you can test different clubs.

The course was playing long even though it was drying up. But the course is in great condition and I am raring to go. It was fun as I played with Emiliano Grillo and a couple of other guys. It was also very productive practice.

That was followed by a session at the range, where I checked out a few things I had worked on with my coach Vijay Divecha. All in all, satisfying preparation.
Whenever Vijay Sir is around, we sit down and discuss the stuff after the sessions and that’s what we did on Wednesday evening. And now we are all set for the first two rounds.

Weather is supposed to be good as we were greeted by a bright sun on Thursday morning. But you never know what the weather gods have in store. The next few days are going to see some rain, thunderstorms and so on. So we are bound to get delays. It also depends whether things get tough after the downpour and storms and if the wind picks up in afternoons. I am out in afternoon on Thursday and early on Friday. Hopefully the weather will hold out then.


There has been a lot of buzz and talk on Jordan Spieth’s quest for the career Grand Slam as he starts alongside the other two major winners this season in what is a traditional featured group at the PGA Championship. Spieth, last month’s Open Championship winner, will play with Masters champ Sergio Garcia and US Open champ Brooks Koepka in the first two rounds at Quail Hollow.

Spieth had a similar honour when he played at Whistling Straits after winning the season’s first two Majors. That year he played with then-Open champ Zach Johnson, along with Rory McIlroy, who was the defending PGA champ. Spieth, incidentally, finished second that week to Jason Day.


As for me, the reason I mentioned Whistling Straits is because it has great memories for me and in some way, that’s where my journey into the PGA took a definite path.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 10 August 2017, 18:54 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT