Standing on the edge

Indian golfers hope to make a dent in the British Open

Jyoti Randhawa

This week, as the world's best golfers battle it out for the year's first Major "" the Augusta Nationals "" Indian players will be hitting balls at the range by day and will stay glued to their TV sets by night to watch the Masters live. And you can be sure, two of these will be Jyoti Randhawa in India and Arjun Atwal in the US. Both of them will figure at the British Open this July, making it a historic first time where two Indians will be playing at the same Major.

It was not too long ago in 1997 that another Indian, Gaurav Ghei, qualified for the first time at the British Open, the only one outside of the US. Since then Randhawa has almost built a bond for himself at the British Open. Since 2000, he has managed to book a berth into this revered tournament three times.

Indian golfers have surely made their presence felt on the Asian, European and Japanese tours and Atwal is now regularly teeing up at the world's biggest tour "" the US PGA. But when it comes to the Majors, only a handful have even qualified: Ghei at the British Open (at the Royal Troon, 1997), Randhawa (St Andrews, 2000, and Royal St. George's, 2003) and Jeev Milkha Singh (2002, US Open) are the only Indian professionals to tee up at any of the Majors. Among them, only Milkha past the cut line and played in all the four rounds at the 2002 US Open.

As in the case of the Augusta Masters, there's no chance of an Indian playing at the PGA Championships, which is the next Major in June. But at the British Open, which returns to the Royal Troon, Atwal already has a place by virtue of topping the Asian Order of Merit in 2003.

Earlier this month, Randhawa has ensured that he too would be at the first tee, when he shared the medalist honours at the International Final Qualifying-Asia with two other players.

For the first time this year, the British Open decided to have four berths each for the main tournament at five international qualifying tournaments across the world. This gave golfers in Asia, Africa, Australia and the US a chance to play and earn a berth from a competition played in more familiar conditions rather the cold and wet environs of Britain, Randhawa, who qualified for his first British Open in 2000 via the qualifiers in Britain, and then in 2003 for topping the Asian Merit List in 2002, took advantage of this new qualification system by grabbing one of the four berths.

The other three went to Australians Kim Felton and Scott Barr and Japanese YosIhnobu Tsukada. While Randhawa, Felton and Barr tied at five-under 139 for two days over which the qualifiers were played, Jeev lost out to Tsukada in the play-off for the fourth berth. He will be the first alternate which means he will get a berth, in case one of the four drop out for any reason.

Considering Jeev, Randhawa and Atwal are the standard-bearers of Indian golf, it really would have been a great occasion if all three had made it. A disappointed Jeev, who chipped in to win the alternate's position over another Japanese Sushi Ishigaki in the second play-off (after Tsukada had taken the last berth) said, "It was not to be. I will have to wait for another chance."

Coming back to Randhawa, the Gurgaon-based golfer, who last year won an event in Japan in his rookie year, has had some good results in European PGA events this season. At the star-studded Johnnie Walker Classic, he was tied for second and at the Singapore Masters, he was third. No wonder he was confidence personified at the Open qualifiers for Asian region, which were held at Kuala Lumpur's Saujana Golf and Country Club.

After a modest first round of one-under 71, Randhawa shot the best round on the second day to produce a four-under 68 and a total of five-under 139. Even though all the players had not come in, Randhawa immediately left to catch a flight back home.

When a local journalist asked what would he do if there was to be a tie for the four berths available, Randhawa confidently said it would not come to that. "The pin placements are pretty tough out there and I do not think the others will be able to card good scores on the back nine," he said, adding that, "If by any chance they do, then I suppose I will just have to give the Open a miss this time around. But I feel confident that I will be there."

His confidence seemed justified as only three players came in with totals of five-under 139 and the play-off was only for the fourth place. And from that play-off , Simon Yates, the first round leader cried off because he had to catch a flight to go off on a skiing holiday.

"It's always a dream to play in the Open," said Randhawa, whose aim is now to not only make a cut but have a good finish. Randhawa, who sealed his berth with a 15-foot birdie on the 18th and final hole, added, "I knew if I birdied the 18th to get to five under, I would make it."

On his third appearance at the Open, Randhawa said, "I'm more mature now and I'm looking forward to my third appearance in the Open." Randhawa also added, "I have played in the UK before. Now I believe I am better prepared to handle the 'four seasons in a day' kind of weather there."

Atwal, who has been playing in the US PGA Tour even as he awaits the birth of his first child with wife Sona, will join the Open straight from there. "I want to play as many events as possible in the US to keep my card," says Atwal, who finished seventh at the US PGA Final Qualifying School. He had a great 2003, during which he also won his second title on the European PGA besides the Hero Honda Masters on the Asian Tour.

"Playing the British Open will be a major landmark in my career, as I have never played a Major," said Atwal, when he booked his berth by topping the Asian Merit List last season.

It will be too dramatic to even suggest that the Indians could win at the British Open, but in golf a single week can change the life of a player. Randhawa and Atwal can also seek inspiration from the fact that none of the four players who won the Majors in 2003 has ever won a Major before. But even then, when they step onto the first tee at the Royal Troon they will try to ensure they are still around at the weekend.