New innings for India

It is unlikely that an Indian will hold aloft the Claret Jug next Sunday when the curtain is rung on the 133rd edition of the British Open.

However, it is still a landmark edition for India as it will field two players from the country for the first time.

While Jyoti Randhawa will make his third appearance in five years at the Open, Arjun Atwal will play his first Major. Atwal also becomes the third Indian professional to play at the British Open.

Randhawa's route to the British Open has been different each time. In 2000, he came through the qualifiers held in Britain while in 2003, he earned a berth by virtue of being No 1 in the Order of Merit in Asia the previous season.

This year, he came through the international qualifying tournaments. Randhawa also won his berth at the Qualifiers in Malaysia earlier in the year while Jeev Milkha Singh, the first Indian to make the cut in a Major, missed out on a spot in a play-off.

Meanwhile, Atwal earned his British Open berth by finishing top of the Asian Order of Merit, the second Indian to have done so after Randhawa.

Back in 1997, Gaurav Ghei became the first Indian pro to qualify for the Open but failed to get past the second round. Though the focus has always been on the pros, the first Indian to play at the Open was actually an amateur ""

H S Malik "", who played the Open Championship and the British Amateur in 1921.

Coming back to this year's British Open, both Randhawa and Atwal have seen their fortunes dip after great starts in the beginning of the year. Randhawa came within a whisker of winning the tri-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic, finishing tied second.

In the next three appearances, he was 26th at Malaysian Open, tied third at Singapore Masters and tied tenth at BMW Asian Open. Those performances earned him invites to the prestigious Deutsche Bank-SAP Open and the Volvo PGA at Wentworth. But he missed the cut at both the places.

In Japan, Randhawa, who won the Suntory Open in his debut season in 2003, has been below par this season. He missed the cut twice in six starts and his best has been a tied 25th place at the Fujisankei Classic.

For the British Open, Randhawa moved to Europe a week in advance to acclimatise and practice at Turnberry and Prestwick, the two courses located nearby.

On his campaign this year, Randhawa said: "I'm hoping my experience at Royal St George's last year will help me. I hit the ball well last year and I'm more familiar now with playing in windy conditions and managing my game on those type of courses. I just hope I can putt better this year as I didn't make any putts to miss the cut."

Randhawa, who has been invited to US PGA events "" the Reno Tahoe Open and Buick Championships in August "" will look forward to playing at both the places.

Atwal, meanwhile, who has won once eachs in 2002 and 2003 on the European Tour, got past the tough US PGA Qualifying School. He was seventh while Daniel Chopra came sixth.

Chopra played his first Major "" the US Open "" and tied for 24th this month. This time, he has failed to make it to the British Open through the International Qualifiers in the US.

Atwal began well at the US PGA with four cuts in five starts but has been in a slump since March. In 11 starts beginning with the Honda Classic, he has missed ten cuts, the sole exception being the tied 60th place at Buick Classic. The British Open will be his first Major appearance this season. Hopefully, Europe will bring him better luck.