 "And the winner of this year is…?")
Anirban Lahiri of India will be competing for the second time in the Masters and, this year, the eminence gris of real estate development in India, K P Singh, will serve as the caddy to Gary Player for the ceremonial tee off at the 80th Masters Championship. This special honour, making K P the most famous caddy in India (which augers well for the Caddies Welfare Trust (CWT) places him on the tee box with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the greatest living legends of the game who between them hold thirteen Masters Green Jackets. No doubt, photographs of this event will adorn the new club house at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon and there will be some good stories over drinks and dinner.
Along with players' names, the names of their respective caddies are mentioned at the Masters, signifying the absolute importance of caddies in support of the players campaign. The player and the caddy are an item. The caddy carries your bag, assists with determining wind direction and speed, reads lines on the green for you, fixes your divots, pitch marks and cleans / rakes your bunkers, cleans your clubs , etc etc and when you still hit a lousy shot he silently takes the grief you freely hand out. Tiger Woods donated lakhs of rupees to the CWT during his visit to Delhi two years ago and spoke forcefully about the great merits of caddyship. There are several champion player-caddy relationships that go on for decades and those caddies also become famous and add to the lore of the game. (The fund raising CWT tournament is being held on April 15 at the Delhi Golf Club so please open your purses for this worthy cause).
The par three contest was, as usual, a spectators (patrons) paradise, a multihued fun fest for all including for players and their families. The myth of this contest which says that "he who wins the contest will not win the masters in the same year" is abounding, building and reinforcing superstition in the already tense contenders. The latest victim is Rory McIlroy, declining to play, fearing a recurrence of the burning up of the four shot lead in the 2011 Masters. He is not taking any chances this year.
The patrons, missing no one in particular, simply applaud every shot of participating past and present greats and eagerly look forward to the trio of Palmer (now replaced by Tom Watson), Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player playing together. What a thunderous roar issued forth when Gary scored an ace on the seventh!
Received wisdom over decades appears to favour those who hit the ball high and long, and have steely nerves to avoid three putting on these devilishly tricky greens that are close to 15 on the Stimp. All the par fives are available for birdying/eagling and, given that bogeying and even double bogeying are common on this course, those who come close to scoring 16 under on the relatively short par fives will have an edge. The course sets up tougher this year and while no rain is predicted, the expected high winds and consequential dryness will certainly ensure that the leader board is not awash in red as in recent years, but that there is much blood on the ground. Such is the nature of gladiatorial contests. Patience will win out; high risk will lose. 284 will be a winning score.
Everyone in the top 20, and a little beyond, has the capability to overcome these challenges. The course is presently favouring the great distance emasculators, four times major winner Rory McIlroy with Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson close behind. The multitalented Spieth will be no slouch but has difficulty stringing four good rounds together this year. The Australians, Adam Scott and Jason Day, both looking good, have each won twice this season with Day joining the elite club of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, winning his last two starts prior to the Masters. The South Africans have not shown much colour but are resilient (except at the tail end in cricket!), and while Rose is recovering from an ailment, Henrik Stenson may get yet another whiff of victory without closing the deal. The pipeline of raw young talent is bursting at the seams as the age gap between them and present leaders is just a few years and narrowing, while Jim Herman, by winning last weeks' Shell Houston Open at age 38, has proven yet again that age, experience and true grit matter. Phil Mickleson will surely contend and offer his unique brand of pyrotechnics but should really wait another year so that he may beat Nicklaus's record of winning at the age of 46.
Our own Anirban, who had a pretty good showing in 2015 at The Open (T30) and the PGA Championship (T5), in his second year on this tour must allow his learnings to come to the fore.
Anirban Lahiri, the only Indian playing at the Masters
There is no dearth of talent or ambition here; he just lacks the experience of growing up in the highly competitive USA sports environment. He has the time, being just 28, to dedicate himself to the US tour for 2/3 years, allowing Asia and Europe second fiddle only, and the Green Jacket can be his. That will surely blast golf wide open in reluctantly socialist India!
Any bets?
