Gaganjeet Bhullar wants to be the number one golfer in India, and is taking giant strides towards achieving his aim.
His rise to stardom has been meteoric. In the last few months, Gaganjeet Bhullar has won his maiden professional title on the Asian circuit, has rubbed shoulders with none other than Tiger Woods at the British Open and is slowly climbing up the world rankings.
India’s top golfers Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa can’t stop praising Bhullar. “He has all the qualities he needs to become a top golfer in the world,” says Singh. Randhawa says Bhullar has announced his arrival in style and is the next big thing in Indian golf.
These two men have seen how difficult it can be for a golfer in this country. Bhullar knows this too. “I am pleased at how things have turned out this year,” says the 21-year-old from Kapurthala. But he also knows that this is just the start of his career, so he is taking each tournament as it comes.
Ever since he broke into the professional golf circuit, Bhullar has been earmarked as a hot property. His record justifies the praise he is getting from all quarters. Ranked the country’s top amateur in 2004 and 2006, Bhullar also won a silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games team event in Doha, after clinching the World Junior Masters Championship in 2005.
In 2007-08, he played in 14 events and recorded 10 top-10 finishes, including three runner-up positions. For the second year in a row, he finished fifth in the Order of Merit. This year has been Bhullar’s most successful on tour, but he played in fewer tournaments because he was concentrating on the Asian Tour. Bhullar won three of the four tournaments he played in. He won the PGTI Players Championship at Panchkula Golf Club in March, which was his maiden professional title. That victory gave him a lot of confidence. “Till then I was doing well, but a title still eluded me, so it was good to record my first win,” he says.
Since then, he has also won two back-to-back PGTI Players Championships at the Rambagh Golf Club and the Amby Valley Golf Club. He tied for second place at the SAIL Open, which was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. While he was making huge strides on the Indian tour, a title on the Asian tour was still missing. “Playing with top-ranked Asian players was a great learning experience,” he says.
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His big break came in Indonesia when he won his first title on the Asian Tour back in May. That win meant a lot, not only in terms of his confidence, but also in rankings. He jumped about 200 places in the world and was 10th in the Asian Order of Merit.
Being the youngest Indian to win a title on the Asian Tour was another feather in his cap. Singh and Shiv Kapur were both 23 when they first won their title, but Bhullar says that such records are always meant to be broken.
From an early age, Bhullar was keen on sports, but it was not until he turned 12 that he thought of taking up golf professionally. Coming from Kapurthala, where golf is not played by many, Bhullar says that though it was difficult at first for people to understand why he wanted to take up the sport, later they saw that he had the talent for it. His father was always supportive of his move to become a professional golfer and he is thankful for that support. The other significant influence in his life has been his mental trainer Dr Pradeep Agrawal. “He has really helped me a lot in building my mental strength,” says Bhullar.
The experience of playing at the British Open was something he will always cherish. He missed the cut at the Open, but says that the Masters was a “fantastic experience overall”. He is hungry for more opportunities like the Masters and knows that performing consistently is the only way he will get them.
Currently, Bhullar is second in the PGTI Order of Merit and seventh in the Asian Order of Merit. He says that his long-term goal is to become India’s top golfer and then see how he performs in the international arena as well. “I hope to continue with the good performances and hopefully the results will follow,” he says confidently.
He is glad that his fellow professionals and senior players like Singh and Randhawa have praised him. “Coming from guys who have been around for so long and done so much for Indian golf, it means a lot to me,” he says. Just talking to them and being around them is a great learning experience, Bhullar adds.
Bhullar is aware that there will be more pressure now that people are taking note of his performance. So far, he has lived up to the expectations and hopes that have been placed on his shoulders. The road ahead may be littered with hurdles, but his performance so far offers assurance that he will be able to rise to the challenge and prove himself worthy. And he wants to take over the mantle of “India’s best golfer” within the next few years.