Golf Digest India - September 2016

VolumE 1 IssuE 5

RNI No. HARENG/2016/66983 sEptEmbER 2016 `150

Think Young | PlaY hard

olympics special

The TorchBearers of IndIan Golf

WIll Golf reTurn In Tokyo 2020?

ryder cuP

secreTs

from undercover pros

IncredIBle IndIans

Golden on asian tour

rose

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Volume 1 issue 1

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes

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Volume 1 issue 1 play. where to play. how to play. what to

Contents 09/16 18

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

Olympics Special 18

▶ Cover Story: Rose Blooms In Rio Briton clinches first Olympic golf medal in 112 years

23

Beauty On The Greens

24

The Torchbearers Aditi Ashok emerged unlikely star among Indian pros Anirban & SSP

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes 24

28 aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

tête-à-tête

by Rohit bhaRdwaj & bhaRath aRvind

28

Will Golf Return In 2020?

by Rohit bhaRdwaj

31

Going Wild In Brazil

10 golf digest india | september 2016

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Volume 1 issue 1 play. where to play. how to play. what to

Contents 09/16

FUtUrists Ryder Cup Preview 56

The Patriot Patrick Reed on the Ryder Cup, man-cave hangouts, blistered hands and savoring steaks in Shanghai with guy yocom

61

64

Patrick Reed: How to Dominate with Your Driver

Home Game After a series of Ryder Cup disappointments, here’s why the U.S. team might win at Hazeltine by jaime diaz

70

Ryder Cup Secrets from Undercover Pros Exposing the weaknesses that might cost a match

Features 92

U.S. Open Champ: Try My Easy Putting Keys Unlock your putting with a simpler approach

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

by brittany lang

94

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

India Digest ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot 14

32

82

David Leadbetter Get your chipping motion more consistent

83

Jack Nicklaus Take advantage of this design feature

84

Swing Sequence: Marc Leishman His swing has little tension and produces big power

by hank haney

98

The Dirt on the D.J. Rules Fiasco The story behind a murky rule, the chaos created by applying it, and why it might be changed again

86

77

Start Hitting It Great Tee to Green by rickie fowler

81

Tom Watson Why keeping your head still will hurt your game

12 golf digest india | september 2016

New Looks Six irons that pack control and distance

91

What’s in My Bag U.S. Open runner-up Shane Lowry

IGIA Award Winner Most tourist friendly course Incredible Indians on the Asian Tour

40

42

44 46

Style: Six Cool Golf Shirts by marty hackel

sociaL star paiGe spiranac 88 The Core LeadsTraining the innoVators and with D.J. inFLUencers oF 2016 by ron kaspriske

Players in the News Update on Indian Golfers around the world

ssp chowrasia inside the ropes Club Round Up Updates from courses across India Tête-à-tête with Aakash Ohri

Corporate Digest Rio Golf Night

aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

Karnataka Golf Festival Volvo World Golf Challenge 52

The Golf Life 80

Spotlight A world class sports science institute in India

india GoLF expo 2016 reView

by mike stachura

by jaime diaz

Play Your Best

Editor’s Letter Women Power in Brazil by rishi narain

Five Big Misses, and How to Fix Them

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs by john huggan and dave shedloski

34

56

Think Young | PlaY hard

tête-à-tête

Business Of Golf Industry insights & updates

In conversation with Kyi Hla Han 54

Golfing CEOs Corporate leaders making waves on and off the course

116 18 Holes

with Shashi Shetty exclusive official

media Partner iNdiA

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Volume 1 issue 1

Editor’s Letter T

Dear Readers,

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

he Olympics turned out to be a grand affair made memorable by the likes of Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Michael Phelps and our very own ladies trio of PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar. Our golfers certainly will never forget Rio and no matter what else Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chowrasia and Aditi Ashok experience in their careers, representing India at the Olympic Games will hold a special place in their hearts forever.

We’ve covered Justin Rose’s Gold medal win in some depth accompanied by insights from the Indian contingent.

268 Best thinGs in GoLF

The priceless instruction pieces by our monthly contributors which reads like the Hall of Fame of World Golf like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Hank Haney, Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter and others are on pages which every reader should mark with a post-it and review every once in a while. These are timeless gems which can help us find that little bit of improvement every time we go out to play. Add to that, insights by Jordan Spieth and others & you have another edition to keep in the collection.

oUr First editors' choice awards

Write to me at rishi@teamgolfdigest.com or on Twitter @RishiNarain_

Meanwhile, we continue to look for your feedback and the letters you send are taken very seriously.

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

As our family of subscribers is picking up pace, we introduce a new prize every month for new readers – look out for it in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ page.

Look up the CEO Golfers in the news page – you might know some of these recreational golfers who are doing India proud in the business arena.

india GoLF expo 2016 reView

Don’t forget, if your club or a player you know is doing something interesting and you feel other golfers should know about it, do email us or call – we want to hear from you.

Enjoy the gorgeous photos and spectacle this issue of Golf Digest presents.

Happy Golfing!

a roBot naMed aFterteam Golf DiGest inDia tiGer

#LadyPoWeR #Rio2016

contact us

Subscriptions subscribe@teamgolfdigest.com Phone: +91-9999868051 Marketing & Advertising Nikhil Narain nikhil@teamgolfdigest.com Phone: +91-9999990364

Editor Rishi Narain

Managing Editor Bharath Arvind bharath@teamgolfdigest.com Editorial Assistant Vineet Mann vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs Srijan Yadav srijan@teamgolfdigest.com Phone: +91-9416252880

Assistant Art Director Guneet Singh Oberoi

14 golf digest india | september 2016

ssp chowrasia inside the ropes Rishi Narain Editor

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Published and Printed by Rishi Narain on behalf of Rishi Narain Golf Management Private Limited and Printed at Thomson Press India Limited, 18-35 Mile Stone, Delhi-Mathura Road, Faridabad-121 007, Haryana and published from 501, Sushant Tower, Sector-56, Gurgaon-122 011, Haryana.

Editor: Rishi Narain. Contains material reprinted by permission from Golf Digest® and Golf World®.

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Volume issue 1 India 1Digest Letters to the Editor

From the

VolumE 1 Issu E

RNI No. HAR ENG/2016/66 AuGust 2016 983 `150

Readers

Think Youn g | PlaY hard

how gil hanse beat nicklaus norman player and more jordan sp hit wedg ieth like dartses

Think Young | PlaY hard

We are pleased to take this opportunity to place on record and appreciate your team for the impressive and complete coverage of our memorable event in your August 2016 issue.

FUtUrists

While going through the August issue of the magazine I found substantial improvement from the previous avatar of GD India.

You have created enormous interest by giving description of some of the Indian Golf Courses, like DLF Golf & Country Club – Gary Player Design and also many other Golf-centric events and courses. Frankly speaking, Golf Digest India had virtually died because they were not serious about sending the magazine to subscribers on time and secondly the matter was not interesting - mostly copied from US magazine.

I wish you all the best and I am sure with your experience and commitment to this sport of golf, you will make this magazine worth reading for all golfers.

A good number of local newspapers and some magazines have reported this event earlier but your write up, entitled “Etching India’s Name in the Guinness World Records” was unique and special.

Aditi Ashok

Exclusive offic ial media Partner INDIA

Cover Aug 3.indd

The interesting layout with captioned pictures and the graphics, had all the information- of the day’s proceedings, our personal introductions, previous records, preparations for the event and our future plans! Happy to have the Golf Digest team as co-travellers in our onward journey.

Thank you once again!

I wish to suggest – do cover good Indian Golf courses one by one as Indians have great fascination for playing golf in South East Asian countries (mainly Thailand). Why not promote our own golf courses in India, which are providing good facilities?

4

Brijesh Patel & Siddharth Naik Ahmedabad

olym pic s iss ue

inDian Trio

GoinG for GolD

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards SSP Chowrasia

Anirban Lahiri

1

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot 7/27/2016 3:39:05 PM

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Heartiest Congratulations once again and wish you all the best.

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Golden

Olympics Special Cover Story

Briton Makes Birdie On The 18th Hole To Trump Ryder Cup Teammate Stenson By Two Shots And Clinch The First Olympic Golf Medal In 112 Years; American Kuchar Pockets Bronze

Justin Rose of Great Britain exults after sinking the winning birdie in the final round of the men’s Olympic golf competition at Barra da Tijuca course in Rio de Janeiro

18 golf digest india | september 2016

Rose J

ustin Rose etched his name in sporting history when he clinched gold at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He became the first golfer in more than a century to pocket the yellow metal.

Rose and his former Ryder Cup teammate Henrik Stenson were 15-under par after 71 holes as they stepped on to the 18th green at the Marapendi Course in the Barra da Tijuca region of Rio. However, it was Stenson who blinked after Rose’s third shot, an extraordinary pitch from 38 yards landed within three feet of the pin. The British Open winner three-putted from 20 feet to give Rose two putts for the first Olympic gold medal in golf since Canadian George Lyon won the competition at Glen Echo Country Club at the 1904 St Louis Games.

The 36-year-old Briton finished with a five-under 67 to hold off a stern challenge from the in-form Stenson and an inspired charge by Matt Kuchar. Rose raised his right fist in the air and embraced Stenson after sinking the winning putt. Later, he

found his wife Kate in the family zone behind the 18th hole.

“It’s a dream come true,” Rose was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “I’ve been thinking about Rio for a long, long time.

I’ve been dreaming about coming here for a few years now. I was hoping my ranking would allow me to compete in the Olympic Games. I came here in good form and I felt excited about competing, excited about giving it 100%. Then when I actually got down to Rio and experienced the whole vibe of the Olympics, to come out of it with a medal is incredible. To come out of it with gold, unbelievable.”

Stenson started the final round one shot off the pace and had shot a bogey-free round with four birdies through 13 holes. But he was forced to summon the trainer to help with back issues on the 14th hole, which left him face down on the tee for a brief spell. He went on to bogey the hole.

Both players held off a fierce challenge by Kuchar, the American who started the day five-under in a tie for seventh but shot a 63 to tie the course record and secure the bronze.

“I’ve been thinking about Rio for a long, long time. I’ve been dreaming about coming here for a few years now. I came here in good form... Then when I actually got down to Rio and experienced the whole vibe of the Olympics, to come out of it with a medal is incredible. To come out of it with gold, unbelievable.” – Justin Rose september 2016 | golf digest india

19

Olympics Special Cover Story

“He really came of age today, didn’t he? He wanted to out-Stenson Stenson and that’s exactly what he did. I think this is as emotional as either of us have felt on the course.

We’ve got this app which tells us when Team GB win a gold and Justin was so intent on contributing one of his own. I think I’m going to go back to my room, have some beer and play that Spandau Ballet song (Gold) all night long..” – Mark Fulcher (Rose's caddy) 20 golf digest india | september 2016

In a club of

His Own

Justin Rose missed onl y five of his fair ways at the Marapendi Course in Rio de Janeiro, making it 90.

4 percent accuracy all wee k, with a TaylorMade M2 driver and a Mitsubishi Tensei White shaft. Her e’s a look at the clubs Justin Rose used to win Olymp ic gold: BALL: TaylorMade Tou r Preferred X DRIVER: TaylorMade M2 (Mitsubishi Tensei Wh ite 70 TX), 8.5 degrees 3-WOOD: TaylorMade M2, 15 degrees IRONS (3): TaylorMade PSi Tour; (4-PW): TaylorM ade Tour Preferred MB WEDGES: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (52, 56, 60 degrees) PUTTER: TaylorMade Ghost Monaco Tour Bla ck prototype

“To call yourself an Olympian is something very special,” Stenson told reporters later. “To be an Olympic medallist is even more special. I’m very pleased that I went here. It was the experience of a lifetime.”

Later, Rose revealed that golf’s successful return to the Games even prompted Rory McIlroy to change his mind and watch the thrilling climax. McIlroy was one of more than 20 top players to withdraw from the Games, the 27-year-old initially citing concerns over the Zika virus but later admitting that Major championships remained the “pinnacle” of the sport and he would only watch “the stuff that matters” in the Olympics.

But after securing a gold medal, one of the many congratulatory messages Rose received was from his Ryder Cup teammate McIlroy. “I did get one from Rory.

Absolutely,” Rose said. “He said he was very, very proud and he said he was pulling for me. He said he could see how much it meant to me and congratulated me.

“He was very complimentary and obviously he watched. He made the point that he really wants golf to succeed as an Olympic sport. He has some of his own opinions that are very personal to him and that’s fine, but as a whole he’s very, very much behind golf succeeding in the Olympics.

“All the guys that missed out probably made their decision for good reasons and they probably persuaded themselves it was a good decision, but I think they’re going to have sat back and realised what a successful event this was.”

Rose got emotional when he described how much this victory meant to his seven-year-old son Leo. “He was so excited. I’ve never seen my little boy in tears, and I might start crying myself. I’ve never seen it resonate so much with him. He’s just beginning to understand what sport is all about. He went to a little football camp this last week and he got a medal, and he said to me: ‘Right, Dad, I’ve got my medal it’s time for you to get yours.’ He was actually crying when I phoned him and I’ve never seen that in him before, and that was very, very special.” september 2016 | golf digest india

21

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Volume 1 issue 1 Olympics Special Cover Story

Praises Galore

FUtUrists

Jack Nicklaus @jacknicklaus My heartfelt congratulations to Justin Rose for his tremendous performance in Think Young PlaY hard competition in 112 golf's |first Olympic years. I thought Justin's play was superb all week and he was very deserving today of the Gold. Henrik Stenson, who has had a wonderful summer, continued his great play and should be proud of and applauded for his Silver. And for Matt Kuchar, his great round of 63 made for a very special final day and Bronze for him. All three represented their counties, as well as the game of golf, very well. I am so proud of our game, and truly believe golf showed it is worthy of Olympic glory. Golf deserves a spot on the Olympic program beyond 2020, so let’s keep it there! #Rio2016

Greg Norman @SharkGregNorman Congrats @JustinRose99 @henrikstenson Matt Kuchar on your Medals @RioOlympic2016 you all did your country yourself & golf so proud.

Gary Player @garyplayer Congratulations @JustinRose99 on your historic @OlympicGolf victory. A victory for Great Britain & the golf world.

Sir Nick Faldo @NickFaldo006 The Olympics brought golf back to the biggest world stage in sports and golf performed well-We also showcased a great gold medal champion!

Tiger Woods @TigerWoods Thrilled for Rosie, Henrik & Kuch, but all golfers in Rio this week should be proud.

Jordan Speith @jordanspieth Congrats to @JustinRose99 @henrikstenson and Kuch!

Great finish and great fnl rd

by Kuch for #TeamUSA. Will be a goal to representin 2020

268 Best thinGs in GoLF Luke Donald @LukeDonald Yes!!! Gold medal for @ JustinRose99 well played that man #OlympicGolf

oUr First editors' choice awards

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes

Clockwise from top: Justin Rose is congratulated by his caddy Mark Fulcher after his winning putt; A British fan shows support for his team; Rose with IGF President Peter Dawson; The three Olympic medallists -- Henrik Stenson (from left), Rose and Matt Kuchar show off their prized possession with their wives

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs 22 golf digest india | september 2016

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Olympics Special Picture Perfect

Beauty on the Greens

Team GDI lists five female golfers who scorched the greens not just with their performances but with their perfectly chiseled faces and sense of fashion...

Laetitia Beck (Israel)

Laetitia Beck put Israel on the golf map when she qualified for the Rio Olympics.

Beck is a five-time Israel Open Golf Champion (her first win coming at age 12). The 24-year-old joined the LPGA Tour in 2014."I was born in Belgium, and my parents played golf there. Then we moved to Israel, where we have one 18-hole golf course. I joined there and played other sports, but at 12 I stopped playing other sports to focus on golf," says Beck.

Christine Wolf (austria)

Christine Wolf turned pro in 2012 and won the Crete Ladies Open on the Access Series. The next two years she played on the Access Series recording two top 10s including a career best tie for 7th at the Helsingborg Open.

The 27-year-old Austrian enjoys skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming and tennis.

Victoria Lovelady (Brazil)

Victoria Lovelady was born in Brazil and turned professional in January 2010. Victoria recorded her best finish at the 2015 Boras Ladies Open, finishing in 3rd place. The Brazilian golfer finished the LET Access Series season in 16th place on the Order of Merit. When Victoria is not on the golf course she enjoys playing the guitar, singing, composing music and surfs whenever she finds the time.

23 golf digest india | september 2016

albane Valenzuela (switzerland)

Albane Valenzuela was born in New York City to a Mexican father and French mother. She became a Swiss citizen at age 14. The 18-year-old’s Olympic dream was born after her father, Alberto, had a conversation with friend Paul McGinley, the former Ryder Cup captain, who told him that the Olympics might be possible after she tied for low-amateur honors at the ANA Inspiration on the Ladies European Tour.

Maria Verchenova (russia)

Maria Verchenova is the first Russian to become a full-time member of the Ladies European Tour in 2007. She has several top-10 finishes. Her beauty further put her into limelight and made her adorn the pages of Maxim Russia. The 30-yearold Russian brunette who was much appreciated for her attire in Rio had a hole in one on the last day on her way to setting a course record 9-under par 62.

Olympics Special Indian Trio At Rio

THE TORCHBEARERS Rookie Aditi Emerged An Unlikely Star Among Top Pros Anirban & SSP As Three Indians Made Their Olympic Debut In Brazil

By Rohit Bhardwaj & Bharath Arvind

A

year ago, Aditi Ashok would have never imagined that she would be walking through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. The 18-yearold, the youngest in the women’s Olympic field, made heads turn when she briefly lead in the second round and was among the top 10 in the first two rounds of a competition which saw World No. 1 Lydia Ko and LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park showcasing supreme skills at the Marapendi course.

With her father Gudlamani on her bag, she ended the second round at 6-under, having shot 68-68 over the first two days, leaving her tied for eighth place. Aditi shot 79-76 in the final two rounds, finding it especially tough when the wind kicked up on Day 3.

She finished tied 41st out of 60 players in the women’s golf event with a score of 7-over 291, a full 23 shots behind eventual gold medal winner Park. But in a Games marred by pullouts from big names, she gave the world media enough reason to say that the future of Indian golf was in safe hands.

The Bengaluru lass had already made history when she became the first Indian to win the Lalla Aicha Tour School and secure her Ladies European Tour (LET) card for the 2016 season. And in Rio, she emerged as an unlikely star among top Indian pros Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chowrasia with her much improved showing.

PRIYANKA@priyankachopra #PVSindhu & #AditiAshok were amazing at the Rio Olympics . Congratulations and yaaay #GoINDIA #GirlPower

662

2,824

“I really enjoyed playing in the Olympics. I started well but wish I could have done better on the last couple of days but the experience of playing with some of the best in the world was invaluable for me. I hope my game helped grow golf in India and inspired more juniors to take up the sport. I learnt that I have to be more consistent and have to maintain my rhythm through the week. But I know I can compete at the highest level and I just have to keep working hard,” Aditi told Golf Digest India from Rio. Aditi gave credit to her coaches Steven Giuliano and Nicolas Cabaret for her decent display.

“My coaches have worked very hard along with me and I’m grateful to them. We have worked hard for a few years to make it to the Olympics and we’re looking forward to rest of the season too. My parents have also helped me immensely with planning and have enFather and caddy Gudlamani guides Aditi Ashok during her round at the Rio Olympics

couraged me a lot. I wouldn’t have made it without their support,” Aditi added.

She was among the four female athletes – including shuttler PV Sindhu, wrestler Sakshi Malik and gymnast Dipa Karmakar – whose performances kept social media abuzz.

“It was good that a lot of people worldwide covered me and a lot of Indians watched me play last week. I’m happy that a lot of people who didn’t really watch golf are watching golf now. The aim of bringing golf into the Olympics was to boost its popularity around the world and so I hope my game helped with that. I wish I had finished better for my country but I firmly believe golf in India is only going to improve from here on,” Aditi insisted.

Talking about her Rio experience, Aditi said she was delighted to meet golf legends Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player besides other Indian athletes at the Games Village.

“I loved playing at the amazing golf course.

Brazil is a nice country and people are nice. I got a chance to chat with Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and Se Ri Pak, which was great. I also stayed at the Olympic village and got to meet other athletes and learn about their experiences. It was a lot of fun,” she said.

Nobody expected our golfers to return with medals in their first Olympic appearance but looking at the pedigree of Anirban and SSP, a top-10 or even a top-20 finish was not unattainable. While SSP finished tied 50th, Anirban languished at the 57th spot in the 60-player field.

GDI learnt only a week after the event that Anirban was battling a shoulder injury during the Games, which has effectively ruled him out for four weeks and has forced him out of the lucrative FedEX Cup Playoffs. Though it would have been prudent of him to rest, he soldiered on to represent the country in Brazil.

What’s more commendable is that he didn’t even think of losing out on his PGA Tour card, which he saved by virtue of finishing 117th on Sushil Kumar@WrestlerSushil Another Indian girl #AditiAshok is shining @Olympics #golf Just stay focussed and you can achieve success @aditigolf

229 24 golf digest india | september 2016

432

Harsha Bhogle @bhogleharsha According to @alanwilkins22,who is doing commentary, Aditi Ashok has played excellent golf & needs to shoot a 68 today to stay in contention

37

90

I really enjoyed playIng In the olympIcs. I started well but wIsh I could have done better on the last couple of days but the experIence of playIng wIth some of the best In the world was Invaluable for me.

I hope my game helped grow golf In IndIa and InspIred more junIors to take up the sport.� –Aditi Ashok september 2016 | golf digest india

25

Olympics Special Indian Trio At Rio

2016 Indian Open champion SSP Chowrasia (left) with personal coach Sundeep Verma

the FedEX Cup money list.

Playing in his first national event, Chowrasia said he got goosebumps the moment he stepped onto the tee to begin his Olympic campaign. “I never played as an amateur. So, didn’t get any chance to play for India.

I got goosebumps when I was about to hit my tee shot. I also liked the stay at the Games Village. Watched well-built 7 feet tall athletes train hard in the sun. Such lovely looking people and very friendly to chat with. Never thought I would get to experience something like that,” Chowrasia told Golf Digest India from Sao Paulo.

He even got the opportunity to cheer the first Indian judoka to qualify for the Games, Avtar Singh, his neighbor at the athletes’ village during his bout.

“Avtar was staying in front of my room. I went to watch his fight and cheered him on.

But he lost in the end after putting up a brave effort. It was very exciting. I wanted to watch Usain Bolt live but couldn’t get a pass or ticket for his event,” the Kolkata pro said.

Chowrasia’s personal coach Sundeep ‘Chimmy’ Verma , who accompanied him to Rio added: “I had the chance to visit the Olympics village a few times but wasn’t staying there. The atmosphere was great and awe inspiring no doubt. SSP managed to see 1-2 other athletic events but getting passes from our officials was no easy task.”

The World No. 234 began his Olympic journey with an even-par 71 in Round 1 to share the 27th place. The 38-year-old brought in a second successive even-par 71 to lie tied 30th.

The four-time Asian Tour winner submitted his best card in the third round, a two-under 69, to jump eight places to the joint 22nd spot.

However, Chowrasia fizzled out just after

26 golf digest india | september 2016

I never played as an amateur. so, dIdn’t get any chance to play for IndIa. I got goosebumps when I was about to hIt my tee shot. I also lIked the stay at the games vIllage. watched well-buIlt 7 feet tall athletes traIn hard In the sun. never thought I would get to experIence somethIng lIke that.”

– SSP Chowrasia Indian pros SSP Chowrasia (left) and Anirban Lahiri (right) with IGF Board member Dilip Thomas

offering a glimmer of hope of a medal, starting the final round with a birdie on the second before a triple bogey on the very next hole put paid to his efforts. A terrible back nine, which included three bogeys and a double, was enough to sour the hard work he put on the first three days.

“I am not happy with my performance. I played steady in the first two rounds. In the third I missed couple of close birdie opportunities. I could have easily ended the third round at 5-6 under. I began strongly in the final round but went into the water hazard on three occasions and that was it,” he said in a frustrated tone.

“The par-4s were pretty long. I am not a long hitter and thus struggled to get good distance on certain holes especially when the wind was up. With lakes around the course, powerful winds used to blow across the venue making it difficult to hit straight,” he added.

Verma echoed Chowrasia’s thoughts, saying, “The Marapendi course was very well designed and in great shape for the occasion.

The course is not extremely tough but length is a factor on a few holes. Wind is probably the biggest factor that impacts shot selection and we saw a lot of players struggle with that over the course of four days.”

Chowrasia also had a brief brush with the wild world at Barra da Tijuca. He spotted a capybara (world’s largest rodent) when he was crossing the 12th green.

“Maine dekha usko – chuhe ka bada version tha jab main 13th tee ki taraf chal raha tha.

People were saying it’s a wild place but none of the animals interrupted my game. I didn’t even find a single mosquito in two weeks and people pulled out due to Zika fears. I think players should have verified the reports before

taking such decisions. I hope all the top guys play in Tokyo 2020,” he said.

However, our golfers had to bear enough hardships before focusing on clinching a medal. From official Indian Olympic Association (IOA) apathy to late arrangements and poor information, they didn’t find desired support.

While our athletes had to endure long flights in the economy section, the officials from the IOA and Sports Ministry had all the luxury at the push of a button in the business class.

World No. 75 Lahiri, in fact, alluded to this in his facebook post.

“A week that could have been. I gave it my everything but the game of golf is the ultimate leveler. Great to see a successful comeback for Golf in the Olympics. Sad to see the insufficient (lack of) support from the governing bodies to most of our athletes and the red-taped instant coffee attitude. It was a privilege to share the time and space with the best athletes from my Motherland and the rest of the world.

Wish our athletes who are yet to compete, the best of luck. Hopefully my game can go the full circle and I get an opportunity to redeem myself in the time to come. In the meantime please cheer our athletes. The sacrifices they make are truly incredible,” Lahiri wrote.

Golfers’ woes didn’t end here, to top it off they were even mis-informed by the IOA officials about the timings of shuttle bus services from the Games Village to their respective arenas and also to the airport.

“I have been playing on different courses across the globe. Wherever I play, the respective Tours are pretty organized and professional in their attitude. They tell you when you should take a shuttle from your hotel to the course and the periodicity of the buses etc. Even they suggest the time you should check out to catch the flights etc.

In Rio, the information passed on to the

Indian contingent was not good. The officials had told us our flights will go from the international terminal at Rio but instead they were scheduled from the domestic one,” Chowrasia revealed.

“I was left running between terminals with 50kg of my baggage which included my golf bag. Anirban had to encounter similar problems as we were staying in adjacent rooms at the Games Village. And when I asked the Brazilian officials they said they had already communicated the things to their Indian counterparts. I had also been given an economy class ticket but I paid 2.4 lakh (one way) from my pocket to get it upgraded to business class,” the three-time European Tour winner added.

The pros were part of the TOP scheme and were promised Rs 30 lakh, however, not only did they get half the amount but also too late, leaving them without any choice to utilize the funds in a better fashion.

“I got 15 lakh just three weeks prior to the Olympics. I think the government bodies had no idea about golf,” Chowrasia said.

“The IOA had not recognized our three golfers until the official announcement from the International Golf Federation (IGF) on July 11. That left us with very little time to file the paper work required for the TOP scheme.

The Indian Golf Union (IGU) was very helpful in pushing the cause for us and we hope to receive some of those funds soon. I must commend SSP for the fact that he has made it this far without any funding from the government as he never played amateur golf,” said Sundeep Verma.

Looking forward to Tokyo 2020, we hope the issues get sorted and our golfers put up a much improved display. We also hope that the government are more supportive of golf and enable grassrootlevel programs to pick up speed and produce potential Olympians.

@anirbangolf - First Indian to have hit a golf shot in #OlympicGames.

History has been made! #Golf #IND @OlympicGolf @IndiaSports

15

OLYMPIC GOLF COURSE Hole

Par

Yards

Hole

Par

Yards

1

5

604

10

5

590

2

4

486

11

4

488

3

4

351

12

4

514

4

3

191

13

4

479

5

5

547

14

3

229

6

3

196

15

4

412

7

4

493

16

4

303

8

3

172

17

3

133

9

4

369

18

5

571

Out

35

3409

In

36

3719

71

7128

#Highlighted the par 4s that troubled Indians

Olympic Golf TeamIND @OlympicGolf_IND

11

a week that could have been. I gave It my everythIng but the game of golf Is the ultImate leveler... It was a prIvIlege to share the tIme and space wIth the best athletes from my motherland and the rest of the world. hopefully my game can go the full cIrcle and I get an opportunIty to redeem myself In the tIme to come.”

–Anirban Lahiri on facebook september 2016 | golf digest india

27

India Olympics Digest Special FromFrom the Bunkers the Bunkers

Will GOlF RetuRn in 2020?

Pullout By Top Professionals Might Jinx Golf's Olympic Future Writes Rohit Bhardwaj

28 golf digest india | september 2016

From the Bunkers

W

hen Brazilian pro Adilson da Silva hit the opening tee shot for the Olympic men’s golf competition in Rio, he didn’t find a swelling local crowd cheering him on.

With the World’s top stars Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy opting out of the quadrennial sporting extravaganza, the men’s competition lost a little of its sheen.

However the field was made up by the sheer diversity - There were 60 men and 60 women from 41 countries competing in Rio. It’s lack of interest shown by these stars which will be a matter of discussion when golf’s inclusion in 2020 is considered next

For the First time, a brand new golF course was built and opened just a month prior to a major event. but japan with over 1500 courses will be better equipped to stage the games come 2020.

India Digest

year during the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) annual meeting.

“Golf will seriously have their work cut out to prove they should have the right to continue… All these golfers came out and said ‘this is our dream’… Later they picked what looks to be a very convenient excuse,” Michael Payne, a former head of marketing at the International Olympic Committee, was quoted as saying by Financial Times.

On the other hand, tennis, golf’s closest equivalent among professional Olympic sports, saw huge excitement among the big names. The best players didn’t compete in 1988, the first year tennis made a comeback, but at the next edition - in 1992, the big

Adilson da Silva (centre) had the privilege of hitting the opening tee shot for men's golf competition at the Rio Games

september 2016 | golf digest india

29

Olympics Special From the Bunkers World No. 4 Henrik Stenson of Sweden was the highest-ranked player in the men's field. He won a silver for his effort

Olympic Field Top Women (rankings) Lydia Ko (World No. 1) Brooke M. Henderson (2) Inbee Park (3) Lexi Thompson (4) Sei Young Kim (5)

showIng mettle: World No. 1 Lydia Ko (from left) won silver, Korean Inbee Park clinched gold and Feng Shanshan of China grabbed bronze

the women’s competition saw all the top-10 players battle it out for olympic glory. from world no.1 lydia Ko of new Zealand to Korean inbee parK and american lexi thompson, everyone had fun in the sun at the marapendi course. names were present in full force. With Tokyo a much more attractive destination for the world’s top stars, it is likely that golf will ask for a 2nd chance.

The women’s golf competition, in contrast, saw all the top-10 players present to battle it out for Olympic glory. World No.1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the eventual winner No. 3 Korean Inbee Park and stars like Brooke Henderson of Canada and American Lexi Thompson, the big stars were out in force.

Poor turnout of big names may be to do with a jam packed golfing calendar

30 golf digest india | september 2016

that saw two Majors (British Open & PGA Championship), FedEX Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour and Ryder Cup (a month after the Games) all in a three months stretch around the Games, making a strong case for burnout.

If golf were to tragically be dropped due to insufficient support from the worlds top stars, three golfers – Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chowrasia and Aditi Ashok – will go down in record books as the only Indians ever to have participated in the Olympics.

While both SSP (tied 50th) and Anirban

Top Men (rankings) Henrik Stenson (World No. 4) Bubba Watson (6) Rickie Fowler (8) Justin Rose (9) Danny Willett (10)

(tied 57th) had a poor finish in their first Olympic appearance, they were all unanimously grateful to be part of the world’s biggest sporting spectacle. Its an experience which other Indian greats like Two-time Asia No. 1 Jeev Milkha Singh, three-time Indian Open champion Jyoti Randhawa and India’s only USPGA Tour winner – Arjun Atwal – never enjoyed.

It took more than a century for golf ’s Olympic return, and let’s be grateful that no matter what happens in the future, India has three golfing Olympians in the record books.

Wild ShotS in Brazil

It's a wIld world: (clockwise from top) Organisers catch a snake meandering in the rough; Plover eggs resting in one of the bunkers; A burrowing owl, capybara and crocodile inside the course

the designers and organisers succeeded in preserving the ecological balance and maintaining the natural flora and fauna of the marapendi course. from crocodiles and sloths to capybaras and burrowing owls, golfers got a glimpse of the friendly locals...

Photographs Courtesy: IGFgolf.org

september 2016 | golf digest india

31

India Digest Spotlight

A World Class Sports Science Institute In India I

t is a well-known fact that athletes require holistic and scientific training in order to perform at optimum levels, prevent injuries and compete against the best in the world. Traditionally, India has not been known for sports science and the availability of such facilities in the development of athletes has been lacking.

However, a collaboration between Sri Ramachandra University and the University of Cape Town led to the establishment of the Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy & Sports Sciences Centre (SRASSC), housed in the Sri Ramachandra Medical College campus in Chennai. Established in 2014 the centre is the brainchild of Prof.S.Arumugam a specialist in both medicine and surgery with American Board Diplomate in Internal Medicine and M.S in Orthopaedics along with an Honorary fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow.

Spread over 1.6 lakh sq. ft., the facility provides the ideal setting for a sportsperson or a team's holistic needs. This is one of Asia’s best and most comprehensive athlete training and rehabilitation centers. Over

32 golf digest india | september 2016

30 specialists from India and abroad work closely and monitor an athlete’s performance and training needs.

Packed with the latest training and sports equipment, one of the highlights of this facility is its biomechanics lab which is comparable to the best in the world. It houses the most advanced technological equipment using systems like infra-red markers, isokinetic testing & training and video & game analysis rooms to capture a player’s motion. This can be studied for a multitude of benefits such as injury prediction, prevention & management and optimization of a sportsperson’s action.

Recently, pro golfers SSP Chowrasia, Khalin Joshi & Chikka visited the centre after their triumph at the Louis Philippe Cup and were full of praises for the facility.

This little known gem is just what India needs as we send more athletes to the Olympics and witness more success at the world stage. Keen amateur, corporate and professional golfers can benefit tremendously from this facility and we urge you pay a visit when you are in Chennai next!

For Golfers

Golfers can avail golf specific assessments, fitness training, consultation with various spe cialists in sports medicine, sports nutrition, sports psychology , sports biomechanics and sports pod iatry.

A comprehensive assessmen t takes 2 days and would cost arou nd ` 30,000 and varies with additional com ponents like biomechanics assessmen t.

It was one of the best facilities I’ve visited in India that focuses entirely on the science behind sports. I was extremely impressed by the hi-tech equipment and especailly the biomechanics lab.

Chikka, Profesional Golfer

Spotlight

India Digest

What’s on offer?

 High performance centre for fitness

& endurance

 Exercise physiology labs  High altitude chamber  Bio mechanics assessment  Injury prevention & rehabilitation  Sports medicine & education  Sports nutrition  Sports psychologists  Arthroscopy  100 air conditioned rooms for

athletes to stay at nominal rates

 Multi-cuisine restaurants  Sports cafe for customized diets

Who has benefited from this facility?

SRASSC works with the BCCI, International Cricket Council (ICC), Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Olympic Gold Quest and GoSports to name a few in India. Additionally, cricketers from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other top cricketers of India have been regularly visiting SRASSC for assessments, treatments, rehab and training. Apart from this, Olympian and Table Tennis national champion Sharath Kamal is one of the several athletes who have also visited SRASSC. september 2016 | golf digest india

33

India Digest Spotlight

A Truly World-Class Resort Experience!

Oxford Golf Resort, Pune

O

pened in 2009, Oxford Golf Resort is built on 136 acres of land surrounded on three sides by the spectacular Sahyadri hills of the Western Ghats offering stunning views comparable to best in the world. The 18hole, 7020 yard, Par 72 championship course is designed by Australia’s Pacific Coast Design as part of an integrated township. The course won the Indian Golf Industry Association (IGIA) ‘Most Tourist Friendly’ golf course at the India Golf Expo 2016. The IGIA Awards are judged by a jury

34 golf digest india | september 2016

A mere 30 minute drive from downtown Pune and a 2.5 hour drive from Mumbai, Oxford Golf Resort is the ideal golfing destination for business travellers, golfers and holiday seekers

of industry stalwarts & involves an online poll open to the entire golfing community in India.

The golf course is exciting for golfers of all skill levels. The course has 6 large lakes and with as many as 54 sparkling bunkers gleaming with white sand, twisting & turning their way across fairways & alongside greens, breeze plays a pivotal role in the gameplay. That coupled with 26 hazards & changes in elevation across the course – a few extra balls in the bag are recommended (Read “insisted” especially for first timers).

IGIA AwArds 2016 Most Tourist Friendly Course in India

The Chalets

Greens & fairways are kept in pristine condition owing to a well- trained & passionate management team.

In a first of its kind initiative in India, Oxford Golf Resort introduced 50 lady caddies and guest relations executives from Bhutan to professionally assist golfers. The resort offers an array of amenities to suit all social and family needs making it a perfect weekend getaway. Do stop by for a round of golf when you are in the area or simply enjoy the delectable cuisineon offer at the various dining options available. september 2016 | golf digest india

35

India Digest Spotlight

Facilities offered:  3 tier 42 bay driving range & academy  Sports retail shop  Tennis & Squash courts  Swimming pool  Fitness facility & Gym  Variety of restaurants  10 Chalets and 7 luxurious tents to

stay overnight

 Largest indoor conference & banquet

space of any golf club in India

 Open air venues for banquet and

entertainment events

 Adventure Club - Horse Riding,

Mountain Biking, Rock Climbing & Rappelling, Archery, Zip Line, Skate Park, Children Adventure Park, Camping, Boot Camp & Paint Ball

Golfers and large groups also have the option of staying at the chic & luxurious 5 star O Hotel which is a part of the Oxford Group located in the heart of Pune at Koregaon Park.

36 golf digest india | september 2016

Oxford golf course is a great challenge for any golfer. The undulating fairways and greens keep one on edge every hole. It demands the highest level of ball striking as well as the purest touch on the greens. Not only a physical challenge but a mental challenge too.Its aesthetic appeal is a pleasure to play on every time.

IGIA AwArds 2016 Most Tourist Friendly Course in India

Udayan Mane, Profesional Golfer & Winner- 2015 Western India Oxford Masters

The course has 6 large lakes and as many as 54 sparkling bunkers gleaming with white sand

september 2016 | golf digest india

37

India Digest Spotlight

incredible indianS A closer look at Indian performances on the Asian Tour - In numbers

Career earnings on asian Tour- CounTry Wise* Players in Top 100

Players in Top 15

australIa

thaIland

18

IndIa

IndIa

14

thaIland

12

Korea

6 5

australIa

1

10

south afrIca PhIllIPInes

6

6

*All stats taken between 2004- 2016 (July 31)

ToP 5 inDian PLayers

Jeev milkha singh

all-Time on asian Tour (Career earnings)* Pos

has played 166 tournaments and has earned

Tagline here

$ 3.46 mn

PLayer

earnings (usD)**

TournamenTs

1

Jeev milkha singh

3.46

166

2

Jyoti randhawa

3.43

256

3

anirban Lahiri

3.02

131

4

s.s.P. Chowrasia

2.55

141

5

shiv Kapur

2.24

143

*All stats taken between 2004- 2016 (July 31)

making him the all-time career earnings leader amongst indians

**In millions

rashid Khan

in 12th place is the lone indian in the Top 15avg. Putts per round in 2016

266 Events

Leader- sam Chien (usa) 9 rounds & 25.44 avg.

$ 0.63 mn in earnings

Tagline here amandeep Johl

has played maximum touranaments among indians

28.18 Avg

ToP 15- reLaTion To Par (2016 season) Position

Player

Tournaments Total against par

6

Rahil GANGJEE

39

-31

11

SSP Chowrasia

26

-27

Leader Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 34 rounds & -70

38 golf digest india | september 2016

22 Rounds

Spotlight

rahil gangjee

702 Holes

in 8th place is the only indian in the Top 15Greens in regulation in 2016

70.8 GIR (%)

Leader- Jbe Kruger (rsa) 612 holes & 74.18%

India Digest

ToP 15- Driving aCCuraCy (2016 season)

Chiragh Kumar

in 9th place is the sole indian in the Top 15- sand saves in 2016 Leader- Juvic Pagunsan (PHi) 26 attempts & 84.62%

46

Position

Player

Holes

Accuracy (%)

1

Gaganjeet Bhullar

462

82.68

7

Chiragh Kumar

504

72.42

14

Arjun Atwal

308

67.21

15

Rahil Gangjee

546

66.85

Driving accuracy (2016) gaganjeet Bhullar ranked #1

Attempts made

462 Holes

69.57% Sand Saves

82.68 % Accuracy

70.27

Stroke Avg

26

Rounds ssP Chowrasia Stats: asiantour.com

ToP 15 - sTroKe avg (2016 season) Position

Player

Rounds

Stroke Avg

13 14

SSP Chowrasia

26

70.27

Chikkarangappa S

18

70.33

Leader- Marcus Fraser (Aus)- 16 rounds & 69.44 avg september 2016 | golf digest india

39

India Digest Newsmakers

Players iN the News

playoFF victoRy FoR Khalin

Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi outplayed Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar in a thrilling playoff to triumph at the ` 30 lakh PGTI Players Championship at the ITC Classic Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon.

Khalin (68-65-67-70) and Chiragh (7065-66-69) got involved in a playoff after both finished regulation 72 holes with matching totals of 18-under 270. Khalin nailed the decisive birdie on the first playoff hole to take home the winner’s cheque of ` 4.5 lakh. “It’s a highly satisfying win for me since the course conditions were tough due to the rain on the last two days. I’ve also won on the PGTI after a long gap so it’s all the more special. Hopefully, I can now get my Asian Tour season back on track,” said Khalin. He added, “I came into this week carrying forward my good hitting form from last week in Noida. I didn’t really feel the pressure today. I felt the stoppage due to rain helped me today.

I wasn’t really swinging well before the rain delay. But during the stoppage of play I got in a good warm up session and got my swing going.”

Child prodigy Shubham Jaglan claimed a massive wireto-wire victory at the Us Kids Golf world championship 2016 at pinehUrst, north carolina with three Under-par roUnds (67-63-68). his total throUGh 54 holes was 18-Under par 198, 11 stroKes ahead of second place finisher.

Rashid ends two-yeaR dRought

Rashid Khan returned to winning ways after a 2 year drought on the domestic circuit as he lifted the TAKE Solutions Classic trophy at the Noida Golf Course.

Rashid (71-69-68-70) put together a clinical twounder 70 in the fourth round to finish with a winning total of 10-under 278 and pocket the winner’s cheque worth ` 7.5 lakh. Noida’s Amardip Sinh Malik (72-6771-70) finished joint second along with Bengaluru’s C Muniyappa (67-72-71-70) at eight-under-280. “It’s a big relief to win on the PGTI after a gap of almost 22 months. I knew it was just a matter of time before I won again. However, it’s important to get that winning feeling even though one might be playing well,” said an elated Rashid. He added, “I didn’t make enough putts in the first three rounds but some of my friends who were walking the course with me gave me the reassurance that I was playing really well. That gave me a lot of confidence coming into the final round. I want to thank all my friends for their support.”

40 golf digest india | september 2016

Newsmakers India Digest

Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour

Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall

claimed her 3rd title of the season with back to back wins in Leg 10 & 11 of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour (HWPGT) in Bengaluru.

In Leg 10 played at KGA, Amandeep carded a final round of 1-under 71 to finish with a total of 3-under par 213 for the 54-hole tournament.

Finishing 11 shots behind was Neha Tripathi of Kolkata with Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal finishing third a shot further back.

Reigning supreme at KGA

Drall took her remarkable form to Prestige Golfshire on the outskirts of Bengaluru for Leg 11 of the tour. The event was curtailed to 36-holes owing to inclement weather and Drall won with a total score of 5-under par 139 . She finished 6 shots clear of runners up Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma and local girl Sharmila Nicollet who finished with scores of 145 for 36-holes.

Sharmila Nicollet back to winning ways

as she built on her runner up finish in Bengaluru to win the 12th Leg at the Hyderabad Golf Club the following week in August. Nicollet and Neha Tripathi finished regulation play thru 54-holes tied at 15over par 228. The duo went into a playoff on the 18th and had to play it 4 four times before Sharmila held her nevers to clinch her maiden title of the season.

the hwPGt now moves to the Delhi Golf Club from september 20-23 for leg 13.

FiRst top-10 FoR Jeev since MaRch

Jeev Milkha Singh ended his streak of missed cuts with his first top-10 finish since March this year, at the King’s Cup in Pattaya, Thailand. He ended with a round of 69, his third successive round in the 60s to finish at six-under for the week. Another player scoring well on the final day for a decent upward move was Shiv Kapur with a week's best of 67 that took him to tied 24th place at two-under. In March he finished in the top ten at the True Thailand Classic.

september 2016 | golf digest india

41

India Digest Club Round Up

ClUb RoUnd Up To share news on your club or updates from across the country, please email bharath@teamgolfdigest.com

Raising awareness of physical fitness in golf

Ace Golf Fit Tournament- Panchkula Golf Club

Panchkula Golf Club, recently witnessed a unique 9-Hole golf tournament. With over 50 golfers from all age groups participating, each player had to perform a mandatory set of exercises like squats, lunges, pushups, planks etc. before every tee off. There were penalty exercises after each hole on the player’s performance in the previous hole. A person failing to make par on one hole had to do 3 squats per extra stroke before the next tee shot along with the designated set of exercise for that hole. The concept of fusion of golf with fitness was devised by Sagar Diwan - one of the leading physical fitness trainers in India.

Bringing the game to masses

Kharghar Valley Golf Course, Navi Mumbai

With the intent to grow the game among kids & youngsters, the golf course developed by City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra has lowered the fees for youngsters while marginally increasing it for adult golfers. Members & golf enthusiasts have welcomed the move aimed at making the sport popular among the masses.

Kharghar Valley Golf Course in Navi Mumbai is India’s 3rd public course after Qutab Golf Course, Delhi & Panchkula Golf Club.

Youngsters (upto class 12) can now play the 9-hole golf course for just Rs 300 per round while lessons are available on an hourly basis starting at Rs 400. For adults, the charges are Rs 600 per game on weekdays and Rs 1,200 on weekends. It is a thoughtful initiative by CIDCO and much needed in the Mumbai area.

The course is managed by Evolution Golf which is run by Mumbai golfers Shivas Nath and Amit Nigam.

42 golf digest india | september 2016

Club Round Up

India Digest

Initiative

Golden Greens hosts inaugural Diplomats Golf Cup Leveraging golf to promote economic diplomacy and develop partnerships with other countries to contribute towards economic and social development, the inaugural “Diplomats Golf Cup” was held at Golden Greens GC, Gurgaon in August.

The event, which saw 67 Diplomats and Indian golf industry decision makers turn out in large numbers was supported by Ministry of External Affairs and ASSOCHAM. Prominent participants included – Ambassador of Myanmar H.E. Aung Khin Soe, Ambassador of Brunei H.E. Dato Paduka Haji, Ambassador of Vietnam HE Ton Sinh Thanh, Sunil Dutt - CEO of Reliance Jio, Amit Luthra – Asian Games Gold medalist and Neelam Pratap Rudy - philanthropist amongst others.

Rahul Sharma (President -Transcont inental Enterprises (ARK) INC.), Sh. Rajiv Yadav (Secretary Spor Ministry of Youth Affairs and Spor ts, ts), Kamal Hingorani (SpiceJet), Sonia Singh (Winner - ladies categ Neelam P Rudy (Philanthropist) ory), , D. S. Rawat (Secretary General - ASSOCHAM) at the awards cerem ony

Hole-in-one

Jang Gyoo Lim from the Hyosung Corporation had a day to remember as he aced par 3; hole #16.

Announced

Vooty Golf Resort, Dream Valley, Hyderabad

Master plan

Dream Valley – Hyderabad, a popular tourist destination is set to develop an 18-hole golf course and associated residences & resort in the nearby town of Vikarabad. The project will be known as Vooty Golf Resort.

Located just an hour’s drive from downtown Hyderabad, the planned par 72 golf course is certain to be a fun and exciting experience, with lakes and nullas crossing many holes in the design. The course will play at 6,501 yards with challenging narrow fairways, small undulating greens and 43 bunkers. With Pacific Coast Design from Australia as the architects, the course will be built to international standards offering the highest quality of local turfgrass to suit Indian climatic conditions.

The 5 star resort will include a variety of activities making Vooty Resort an ideal destination for families. Work commenced on the project in June this year and the golf course is scheduled to open for play in October 2017. september 2016 | golf digest india

43

India Digest Tête-à-tête

‘State Bodies Need To Promote Golf In A Better Manner’ Government needs to create more golf courses & driving ranges to popularise the sport and give boost to the tourism sector feels Aakash Ohri - Executive Director, DLF Home Developers

By Bharath Arvind in an interview with Golf Digest India

Tête-à-tête with

Aakash Ohri

As Executive Director, DLF Home Developers, Aakash has been instrumental in the growth of the golf business at DLF, involved in all phases of its development since its founding in 2000. Aakash, an avid golfer, has been an active member of the Indian golfing community. As president of the Golf Industry Association (GIA) from 201416 he was instrumental in promoting the game in India through the annual India Golf Expo. He is an advocate of eco-friendliness and sustainability which he evidently incorporated into the development of the new Gary Player designed golf course at DLF Golf & Country Club (DLF G&CC) which has hosted a number of major golf tournaments including the 2015 Hero Women’s Indian Open.

44 golf digest india | september 2016

GDI: You’ve been at the heart of golf development in Gurgaon and DLF G&CC. What plans and goals do you have for this world class facility?

Upgradations at the DLF Golf & Country Club were carried out to enhance the experience of the golf playing community in the region, and to give the residents unmatched vistas of the golf course. Further, this facility is at the heart of one of the most sought after residential communities in the country, DLF Phase 5. The club continues to serve its members with world class facilities such as the Gary Player course and its country club experiences.

GDI: How was your experience developing this course and how did it all start? Were there other designers evaluated besides Gary Player Design?

As you can see, a development of this magnitude needs thorough planning and an even better team to implement it. We set out to partner with a golf course designer who shared the same vision as DLF and after

speaking with a few, firmed up our decision to go with Gary Player Design (GPD). GPD is one of the most successful golf course design companies in the world and are known for their eco-friendly practices, which we felt was a key ingredient to creating the course at DLF. More experts in their fields were brought in to look after shaping, irrigation, landscape, tree transplantation and agronomy. The experience of leading a team of such experts and to see the project to fruition has been immensely satisfying.

GDI: Could you describe some of the sustainable & green initiatives that are being followed at the golf course?

The first task at hand was to transplant existing and newly acquired trees to locations within the course as desired by the golf and landscape architects. This was the largest exercise of its kind in the region and yielded nearly 100% results. We were also aware of the scarcity of water in the area, and set up a Sewage Treatment Plant that now not only caters to the needs of the golf course but also

Tête-à-tête

India Digest

With golfing legend Gary Player during the revamp of the DLF Golf & Country Club

the entire DLF5. Not a single drop of fresh water is used for horticulture and irrigation purposes.

GDI: You have worked with state bodies to develop golf facilities, what is the state’s appetite for golf development & tourism?

Even though golf is now an Olympic sport, the state bodies are yet to fully recognise the benefits of promoting this game. More needs to be done to create golf courses and driving ranges. The golf tourism sector has now seen some interest with involvement from the government. An organised program presented to inbound tourists is sure to give boost to better utilisation of our existing facilities.

GDI: You are a patron and immediate past president of the Golf Industry Association (GIA). How is the body influencing the growth of the game?

The Golf Industry Association is a body that has for the first time in India brought under one roof, so many key stakeholders through its annual India Golf Expo. There are many

An organised program presented to inbound tourists is sure to give boost to better utilisation of our existing facilities gaps in communication within the industry in India and with those who are keen to set up new businesses. This association will bridge those gaps.

GDI: What needs to be done to grow the game in India and for us to churn out more champion golfers?

As we have done at the DLF Golf & CC, one of the most important aspects of developing golf in India is the creation of golf academies and driving ranges. We have seen tremendous success with our junior program, with many of them bringing home national and international glory. More of

these structured programs backed by facilities at par with those available overseas are needed.

GDI: What is DLF’s roadmap to promote golf & grow the game in India as a key influencer?

In addition to creating world class golfing infrastructure, DLF has always supported golf tournaments and golfing talent. We continue to host international events on our golfing calendar and support upcoming talent.

GDI: How does DLF support upcoming talent?

Upcoming talent needs support as golf can be an expensive game to travel and play. DLF provides them with resources to travel, train and play and ultimately reach their true potential. A key initiative of the DLF Golf & CC has also been to promote golf among the underprivileged. We also have a robust caddie training program and conduct the oldest Inter Club Caddie Tournament in the country. september 2016 | golf digest india

45

India Digest Corporate Digest

Sagar Sondhi, Delhiites Magazine with friend

Stars Converge for Rio Golf Night

Delhi golfers & golf aficionados came together and cheered Indian duo Anirban Lahiri & SSP Chowrasia’s Olympic golf charge at a lovely evening hosted by ITC Maurya. The fun-filled evening was attended by over 220 top corporates, socialites, celebs & pro golfers. In addition to the screening of the Olympic Golf round, the guests also engaged in leisure contests i.e. closest to the pin on a golf simulator, putting & chipping contests. Here are few glimpses of the event.

Mr & Mrs Bhaskar Pramanik (Microsoft)

Anuvrat Pundhir, Ibadat Beri, Sukrit Nagpal, Harshvardhan Singh & Kabir Cogi

Mercedes-Benz CLA 200 on display

46 golf digest india | september 2016

Satvinder Cogi with Sanjana & Taran of Creyate

Charu Narain, Rishi Narain, Abha Dayal & Zubin Songadwala, GM-ITC Maurya

Corporate Digest

Jeannie Tien at the putting competition

Gagan Chadha & Ekta Chadha

Mandeep Arora (Standard Chartered), Rakesh Agnihotri & Kartik Sabbharwal (Standard Chartered)

Manav Jaini-Pro Golfer & Jai Sharma-PGTI

Mr. & Mrs. Anit Mehrotra, SGDC

India Digest

Mr & Mrs Santiago Arrubla (Colombian Embassy Counsellor)

Amrita Singh, Monish Bindra & Taranjeet Singh (Twitter)

Ateet Gaur, Trinity Golf with Murali Kartik- Cricket Commentator

Navaz Aria

Vincent Panzera, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Mandeep Arora, Nalini Sharma & Kartik Sabbarwal

september 2016 | golf digest india

47

TiTle Code: HAReNG00969 mAy 2016 `150

Volume issue 1 India 1Digest Corporate Digest

Karnataka Hosts 8th Annual Golf Festival at KGA

T

he 8th edition of the Karnataka Golf Festival, one of the most popular amateur golf tournaments in the country, is now rechristened as ‘Cornerstone Cup Karnataka Golf Festival’. The much awaited event on the amateur golf calendar will be held from 6th to 9th October at the picturesque Karnataka Golf Association (KGA), Bengaluru. With support from the Department of Tourism, Government of Karnataka, the golf festival aims to boost golf tourism and establish Karnataka as a worldclass golf destination.

The Cornerstone Cup Karnataka Golf Festival is the official India Qualifier for the World Amateur Golfers Championship where one winner from each of five handicap categories (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 and 21-24) will represent corporate India at the world finals in Durban, South Africa from 22nd to 29th October .

Each year golfers from Jammu, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore and other cities across India travel to play in the event.

Winners will be announced at a Gala dinner hosted by Ritz Carlton, Bengaluru on 9th October. The Gala Dinner is one of the most memorable gatherings of golfers anywhere in the country and last year at the Gala dinner KGA felicitated Aditi Ashok for her outstanding achievements that summer.

With about 500 golfers set to tee off over four days, the tournament will played over 72 holes, in an individual modified stableford format with 3/4th handicap adjustment, giving all a fair and equal opportunity.

Sanctioned by the Indian Golf Union, only golfers with valid IGU National Handicap Service handicap are eligible to represent India. The Festival incorporates a one day conference on golf along with golf clinics for beginners. To add to the excitement, several daily prizes and on course contests keep the golfers’ spirits high and the opportunity to play golf in South Africa makes this one of the most sought after tournaments in golfing circles.

At the world finals, the five-member Indian contingent will compete with over 200 amateur golfers from 40 countries over four rounds of competitive golf in four different courses around Durban, South Africa.

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

“Cornerstone Properties is delighted to be associated with South India’s most prestigious golf tournament – “The Karnataka Golf Festival”, now in its 8th edition and called The “Cornerstone Cup Karnataka Golf Festival”. The tournament would witness the participation of golfers from across the country and we look forward to hosting all the guests.

The Cornerstone Cup gives amateur golfers the platform to represent India at the Finals of the World Amateur Golfers Championship in South Africa further emphasising the scale of the event. We anticipate competitive golf on the greens of KGA. ”

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs

B.P. Kumar Babu, CMD, Cornerstone Properties

48 golf digest india | september 2016

6th to 9t h october KGA , benGAlu

268 Best thinGs in GoLF ru

oUr First editors' choice awards

In 2015, Aditi Ashok was felicitated by then KGA President V. Venkat Subramaniam at the gala dinner at Ritz Carlton

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

Shiv Naren Srinivasan (left to right), Sridhar Reddy, Dr. Raphael Parambi, V.S. Thyagarajan and Shrenik Kumar were the 2015 world finalists

tête-à-tête

rs Championship World Amateur Golfe World Finals nd trip tickets

rou rstone Cup will receive Five winners from Corne stay & 6 rounds hts nig 7 ; ica n, South Afr from Bangalore to Durba Club, Beachwood rses – Durban Country of golf on 4 renowned cou toria Country Vic untry Club Hillcrest and Country Club, Kloof Co Club Pietermaritzburg.

sociaL star paiGe spiranac Leads the innoVators and inFLUencers oF 2016

exclusive official media Partner iNdiA

Corporate Digest

India Digest

Volvo Rolls Out Fourth Edition Of World Golf Challenge

I

ndian amateurs will be in for a treat as Volvo announced a brand new format in the fourth edition of their World Golf Challenge in India to start from 1st October and conclude on 2nd December. The eight-leg event will kick off at the East Point Golf Club in Visakhapatnam next month and will culminate at Jaypee Greens Golf Resort in Greater Noida.

The tournament will be played in individual stableford format. The winners of all the rounds will square up at the national finals scheduled to be played at Jaypee Greens, where two winners will qualify for the World Finals.

The annual World Final sees the participation of club golfers from 40 countries and in the past has been graced by top international pros like current British Open champion Henrik Stenson, veteran Darren Clarke, Thai ace Thongchai Jaidee and Former US Open winner Louis Oosthuizen.

Volvo World Go lf Challenge 2016 Schedule

DATE 1st October

VEnuE East Point Golf Cl ub, Visakhapatna m 7th October Hyderabad Golf As sociation, Hydera bad 14th October Kalhaar Blues & Gr eens, Ahmedabad 21st October Tollygunge Golf Cl ub, Kolkata 4th November Prestige Golfshir e, Bengaluru 11th November Chandigarh Golf Club, Chandigarh 18th November Willingdon Spor ts Club, Mumbai 2nd December Jaypee Greens Go lf Resort, Greater Noida nATIOnAL FInA L 3rd December Jaypee Greens Go lf Resort, Greater Noida

What begins at a local golf club can be the start of the golfing experience of a lifetime. The Volvo World Golf Challenge- India, is a great platform for us to interact with our customers and engage with new ones. Golf forms an ideal and informal setting for us to build on our existing relationships, get feedback from our customers and forge new relationships for the future.

This year promises to be exciting & competitive with keen golfers from multiple cities taking part.

Tom von Bonsdorff, Managing Director - Volvo Auto India

september 2016 | golf digest india

49

India Digest Advertorial

Clover Greens Golf Course A Jewel in Bengaluru

In 2002, a team of 6 passionate golfers chanced upon a 177 acres plot of land situated 30 Km from downtown Bengaluru. In 2006, they contacted world renowned golf course architects Pacific Coast Design of Australia & decided to build a golf course. Within 3 years Clover Greens was ready to play.

The Course

This 18-hole, 6700+ yard, Par 71 course is spread across 170 acres of pristine land and is designed to enhance and leverage the natural terrain and maximize environmental friendliness and sustainability. What makes this course unique is mounding between fairways, making golfers feel as if they are playing on their very own private golf course.

Green, now Greener

Clover is designed to be eco-friendly, without compromising on the playing experience.

The fairway grass is locally sourced and is weed, pest & drought resistant and requires minimal irrigation. To maintain the purity of the underground aquifers, only organic weedicides, pesticides and fertilizers are used.

Fairways are narrow and contoured to fa-

cilitate harvesting and draining of rainwater from turf surfaces. The rainwater is collected using underground slotted pipes that drain into man-made lakes, which serve as reservoirs for a fully automated irrigation system.

A Golfer’s Dream Come True

Unlike many of the new golf courses in India, Clover Greens has no golf cart paths – just paths from green to tee, so that golfers enjoy a good walk on 105 acres of lush green fairways.

The course has also been designed to feature trees and mounding between fairways, immersing golfers in their walk with nature.

The massive rocky outcrop running across the course provides a backdrop to eleven holes and is intimidating in its own right.

The facility also features a 250 yard, 2 tier 20 bay shaded driving range as well as a

training academy. The academy called ‘EPIC’ has trained coaches led by head professional Rahul Ganapathy, swing analysis facility.

Never away

The course is surrounded by Al Fresco Living “The Escape” with 242 ultra-luxury villas ranging from 2500 to 7300 sqft, built

by Assetz Property Group. Each villa is designed with a landscaped berm towards the front of the house, which brings semblance of the golf greens to the streetscape and offers privacy from the street. The Villas have a courtyard and a double height ceiling in the main area along with a private landscaped court that extends out from the living areas.

Golf facing villas have a brilliant view of the course and are built to maximise the view of the surrounding 90% open spaces.

Signature Hole

Hole no. 13 is Clover Green’s signature hole, a short Par 4 of 349 yards. It may seem easy until you reach the tee. Sitting amongst established Silver Oak trees that are close and on either side of the line of play (which creates a ‘tunnel’ effect reminiscent of Augusta National), the 4th hole allows little room for error. This tunnel creates a psychological challenge and is yet one of the most picturesque golf holes in India. The landing zone features a lake to the right; and the green is again surrounded by bunkers and established trees. If your drive is well-positioned, you can score well, but this little beauty can easily rattle your confidence.

50 golf digest india | september 2016

Advertorial

India Digest

Other facilities  16 premium rooms for offsite

retreats & corporate meetings  Swimming pool  Spa and Steam rooms  Amphitheater  The Faireway Resto-Cafe  3.76 km jogging track  Mini football field  Outdoor deck spaces  The Club house will be equipped with Tennis & Squash courts, Gym, Conference centre for 400pax and 60 rooms.  Pro-Shop- managed by Mr Krishna Prasad, India’s leading club fitter.

“The Indian Women’s golf has been to Clover quite a few times, and we have enjoyed playing at the golf course. It’s a well maintained golf course throughout the year. The new clubhouse is great. I love the food there. The pool is great and it’s a nice place to get away from the city and to work on the game as well. I love playing here. The staff is very hospitable, kind and helpful. I am looking forward to playing there soon and winning next time.”

–Sharmila Nicolette, Pro-golfer

“I had the most wonderful time playing a round of golf at Clover Greens with my father and brother. The course is very well maintained and the caddies are knowledgeable and helpful with their advice. Relaxing at the Resto-Cafe after the game was the icing on the cake. The staff are attentive and friendly and it was the perfect ending to a memorable day.” – Nikhil Chinappa, Music entrepreneur

For more information: Krithika Nachaya,

+91 9945562991; Email: E Krithika.kalengada@assetzproperty.com september 2016 | golf digest india

51

India Digest Business of Golf

BusIness of Golf Features industry insights & updates from India & across the globe. To contribute updates on events, conferences or other happenings email vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

Thailand Golf Travel MarT 2016

In July, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organised the annual Thailand Golf Travel Mart (TGTM) 2016 in Pattaya, Chonburi. The Thailand Golf Travel Mart 2016 was attended by more than 300 participants and over 165 specialist golf holiday buyers including eight leading Indian golf tour operators.

The event kick-started with a golf tournament at Burapha G.C. and Laem Chabang International C.C. followed by two exciting days of business that included pre-scheduled appointments with buyers and a speedmeeting session to enable suppliers to meet new buyers.

Delegates had the opportunity to discuss business with about 92 Thai sellers ranging from golf courses and service providers like golf schools, equipment retailers, travel agents & tour operators, hotels, spa operators and other related businesses.

The busy outing was followed up with lively Thai entertainment. The 2017 Thailand Golf Travel Mart will take place in Khao Yai. The TGTM offers great insights for any country including India which aims to grab a piece of the multibillion dollar golf tourism industry.

TAT also invited a large number of local and international media to gain insights into the event as well as Thailand’s plethora of golf holidays.

Other upcoming Golf Travel Shows:

International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) | 14th -17th November 2016| Mallorca, Spain World Travel Market | 7th -9th November 2016 | London, England Asia Golf Tourism Convention | 7th -10th May 2017 | Danang, Vietnam

L-R: Aso (TAT), Brahm Majithia (Apex lynx), Arif Ansari (TUI India), Rajan Sehgal (Arrival Air Services), Anil Dev (Golf Plus), Charu Narain (Golf Digest India), Gaurav Dogra (Plan Your Holidays), Jayant Trehan (Golf Tours)

TeChnoloGy helps WaTer ConservaTion on rio’s olyMpiC Golf Course For those of you that were watching the golf event at the Rio Olympics, it is remarkable that this was the first time the course has been opened for the tournament and players were all praise for the immaculate conditions of fairways, greens & bunkers. Further, a lot has been written about the environmental friendliness and the flora & fauna surrounding the course. So here is a little bit about how The Toro Company helped the Rio course save water and provide prestine playing conditions while preserving the ecology.

The Gil Hanse-designed golf course incorporated latest technology from Toro with a

52 golf digest india | september 2016

central control system. More than 2,200 sprinklers were installed throughout the course, alongwith more than 1,000 spray nozzles on bunker complexes. The irrigation system was helped by a monitoring system, positioned throughout the course to enable the grounds team to monitor turf health and regulate the water consumption.

The central control system communicates with irrigation & monitoring systems to allow the grounds crew to analyse course conditions and make adjustments in irrigation schedules and other applications. A classic example of a cutting edge technology being implemented for the greater good of the environment.

Business of Golf

India Digest

in ConversaTion WiTh

Kyi Hla Han, Commissioner, Asian Tour On the professional tours, the biggest buzz over the past year has been concerning the Strategic Alliance between the European Tour & Asian Tour.

The idea is to cooperate instead of competing for sponsorships in Asia. The European Tour already co sanctions 8 events per year in Asia.

The US PGA tour, through CIMB Classic in Malaysia, HSBC WGC in China and the tie up with the China Tour is attracting big sponsor money in Asia.

Also the US LPGA has made a big move into Asia with The HSBC Women’s in Singapore and the LPGA KEB HANA Bank Championship in Korea.

In Order to create a more attractive product for television and sponsors by combining the quality of the European Tour with the local appeal of Asian players, the tie up is meant to provide a stronger proposition for sponsors & brands in Asia who want to associate with Golf.

In order to get more clarity on the subject, Golf Digest India spoke to Asian Tour commissioner Kyi Hla Han. We will keep tracking this story as it directly affects the careers of India’s top pro talent.

GDI: What does the alliance mean to players on either tour?

The Asian Tour and European Tour have been working very closely through our co-sanction programme since 1999. Since that time, we have jointly staged nearly 100 tournaments with approximately US$190 million in prize funds on offer to our players. The careers of many of our members such as Thongchai Jaidee, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chowrasia and Jeev Milkha Singh have benefited where they have become international champions through the opportunities to compete away from Asian soil.

GDI: Do the tours continue their respective

schedules including joint sanctioned events?

Both Tours will continue to be run independently, meaning we will manage the Asian Tour Schedule but work closely with the European Tour to ensure that both our Schedules are planned effectively for both our memberships to enjoy the best playing and earning opportunities around the world.

GDI: How does this increase playing opportunities for AT players?

At the King’s Cup in Thailand recently, we allocated 25 spots to European Tour members and there will be similar arrangements for Asian Tour members to compete in European Tour events in Europe through our Strategic Alliance.

GDI: Benefits of this for players on either tour?

From an Asian Tour perspective, our players will have greater opportunities to take their careers onto the next level by performing well in co-sanctioned tournaments. As what we’ve seen previously, players like SSP Chowrasia, Anirban Lahiri, Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal earned playing rights in Europe by winning co-sanctioned tournaments in Asia and with more playing opportunities for our players through the Strategic Alliance, they will have every opportunity to fast-track their careers with strong performances in the cosanctioned events.

return of investment. Sponsors obviously want every dollar that they spend equated to a value and we are very confident we will be able to enhance this sponsorship value through our assets.

GDI: Developmental activities to grow the game envisaged?

Right now, the Asian Development Tour, which is our developmental circuit in the region, will continue to run independently with the aim of providing playing opportunities for rising stars of the game in Asia. We will evaluate this in the near future to see if it will add value to us if we are to work with Europe’s Challenge Tour.

GDI: How do the commercials work for this?

Does it increase budgets for the tours?

The European Tour will set up a joint-office with the Asian Tour in Singapore in the coming months as part of our Strategic Alliance and our marketing and commercial efforts will be coordinated from this office. Through this initiative, there will be better coordination and focus in regards to sales efforts which we believe will allow us to attract new sponsors into the game.

GDI: Sponsor benefits from this alliance?

The Asian Tour and European Tour have our own media assets, such as our television and digital platforms, and when we combine these assets that already enjoy a global reach, we will offer our sponsors more value, exposure and september 2016 | golf digest india

53

TiTle Code: HAReNG00969 mAy 2016 `150

Volume issue 1 India 1Digest Business Of Golf

CEO Golfers In The News Updates on golfing corporates making waves on and off the course. To share updates with us email vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

Think Young | PlaY hard

Making Moves

New Territories

Rajeev Mittal

Launch

david HopcRoft

FUtUrists

vivek kudva

An avid golfer based in Gurgaon, Rajeev Mittal recently joined Oracle India as Vice President- Systems.

Prior to this, Rajeev founded Amur Search - an executive search firm focused on Mid and Senior level hiring. A regular club golfer, Rajeev has been in the IT industry for over 28 years and has held several positions in Avaya, Microsoft, IBM & Wipro.

"My wife and I have been regular golfers for the past ten years or so. As we live overlooking the DLF course, it's convenient!

Still love the game and would recommend it to anyone as a great way to unwind with friends"

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

Vivek Kudva who hails from Mumbai has held senior positions with Franklin Templeton for over a decade and has recently been appointed head of EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) & India as Franklin Templeton Investments has announced a new leadership structure. He plays most of his golf at BPGC, Chembur.

“I’ve been playing golf for many years, though in recent times with all my travel, there seem to be more weekends where I miss out. Have been lucky to play on some great courses around the world.

Just wish more of my colleagues in India would start playing so they can see just how much fun golf can be”

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs 54 golf digest india | september 2016

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot Keen golfer David Hopcroft, GMLe Meridien, Gurgaon launched a casual dining family restaurant, Bella Cucina at the hotel this month. The restaurant features modern Italian cuisine and promises to satiate the taste buds. When he’s not at the hotel, you can find David, a 15 handicapper, working on his game at the DLF G & CC.

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes

“ Gurgaon is a great place to play although I miss the famous sand belt courses back home in Melbourne.

I’ve become a regular at DLF but I’m hoping it will translate soon into better scores !”

aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

tête-à-tête

sociaL star paiGe spiranac Leads the innoVators and inFLUencers oF 2016

exclusive official media Partner iNdiA

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the

56 golf digest india | september 2016

m y s h ot • 2 6 o n a u g u s t 5 • t h e w o o d l a n d s • t e x a s

Patrick reed on the ryder cuP, man-cave hangouts, blistered hands and savoring a steak in shanghai With guy yocom

patriot Photograph by Walter Iooss Jr.

about this time of year, I start re-watching “The Patriot.” There’s this scene where the Americans are in a battle against the British and retreating. At which point Mel Gibson’s character retrieves an American flag, turns toward the British and charges headlong into them. The other colonists, seeing this, turn and follow. It totally turns the tide. That’s the spirit I try to play with in Ryder Cup. It’s far from life or death, but I think pride, determination and passion can take you a long way.

the oklahoma city thunder were beating Golden State in an NBA playoff game when one of the commentators said something like, “Now is the time for the Thunder to close them out. They have to keep the pressure on, because if the Warriors make a comeback and the crowd gets into it, things will get a lot tougher for OKC.” That’s exactly how I felt when Henrik Stenson and I were all square going into the seventh hole of our Sunday singles match two years ago. When Henrik made a 20-footer for birdie on the seventh hole, the crowd went nuts. I had a 10-footer to tie that I felt I just had to make. When I poured it in, that’s when I made the “Shhh!” gesture at the gallery. It didn’t quiet them—they booed like crazy. I then turned to my fellow American supporters and screamed as loudly as l could, “Come on!” That putt kept the momentum on my side. Every single hole after that, as I walked down the fairway, the crowds were yelling, “Shhh!” Eventually, I took down Henrik on the 18th hole, won my singles match and closed out my Ryder Cup record 3-0-1.

It was one of the greatest achievements I’ve ever had. There’s nothing more exciting in golf than playing for your country and being a part of the Ryder Cup team. ●●●

the booing came with the territory. I

thought it was fantastic. The crowds at Gleneagles were phenomenal. Maybe it’s the history of the Ryder Cup and the fans’ love of competition, but the intensity went way

58 golf digest india | september 2016

‘if you’re bleeding red, white and blue, let it show.’ beyond anything I’d ever experienced. They knew unbelievably small details about our players and put them to songs and chants.

The whole time, I never heard a single fourletter word or any sign of disrespect. On the first tee of my match against Henrik, they were calling out, “Patrick, did you work on your putting?” They were referencing a twofooter I’d missed the day before. I came right back with, “How about your guy? Did he practice his putting?” One of our opponents had missed a short one on the same hole.

The fans just ate that up. Then they chanted, “Let’s see you dance”—they did that to players on both teams—and when I refused, they jeered in a totally good way. ●●●

for me to witness the great American galleries at Hazeltine, I first have to make the team. Right now I’m at No. 11 in the Ryder Cup points standing. There are 12 players on the team, and the last four will be captain’s picks. If I finish outside the top eight, there are no guarantees. My goal is to play so well that Davis Love doesn’t have to consider me for a captain’s pick. In the end it doesn’t matter how you make the team so long as you make it, but like all guys, I want to play my way on.

at gleneagles , Jordan Spieth and I were one tough team. That two-footer I missed came in Saturday’s alternate-shot match when Jordan and I played Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose. It happened on the 16th hole, and it was pivotal because Jordan and I wound up halving that match. When it was over, I apologized to Jordan for missing the short one. “Are you serious?” he said. He then proceeded to say that he’d hit some bad shots that cost us, too. He reminded me that in team play, it always takes two. ●●●

jordan and i partnered in two four-ball

matches and an alternate-shot match. Right away, we adopted a strategy of trying to beat each other on every hole. Sure, we’re teammates, but as golfers we’re also naturally competitive. I figured if Jordan and I tried to outplay each other, it would make it very difficult for the other teams to beat the two of us together. It was a great strategy. We’d make two or three crummy pars in a row, and on the next tee, I’d whisper to Jordan, “Hey, bud, I’m beating you on this hole.” He’d answer, “Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that.” Challenging each other made us both play better. We won both fourball matches and tied the alternate shot. ●●●

call me oblivious , but I had no clue there

about the heat going on between Tom Watson and Phil Mickelson. As I sat there watching the confrontation at the press conference, I decided that none of the drama matters. It all comes down to playing good golf. Regardless of who the captain is, who you partner with or when, if you don’t play well, you’re not going to win. As the pain of that defeat sank in, the solution—simply playing better—seemed obvious to me. ●●●

there were some hilarious moments and

touching ones. The sight of a shirtless Bubba Watson in a skirt—excuse me, kilt—is something you can’t unsee, though I’m not sure I want to. The table-tennis matches were fun to watch and a great distraction from the heat of competition. The biggest surprise to me was Steve Stricker, one of the assistant captains. He gave a heartfelt speech on what the Ryder Cup meant to him that had a lot of us tearing up. The details, I won’t reveal. I’m a big believer in sanctity of the team room.

i’ve worn red shirts forever , my way of

channeling the power of Tiger Woods. Add some blue, white and preferably stripes to the ensemble, and the energy gets even stronger. It doesn’t take a team event to stir up my patriotism. Since I played on that Ryder Cup team, I’ve carried a red, white and blue yardage book. It’s getting a little worn now, and I’m trying to find a duplicate. Any time I can feed off my national pride, I’ll do it. ●●●

●●●

at home in the woodlands, I have a full-on

man cave. I call it a man cave because it has a theater room, pool table, golf simulator, the works. But really, it’s a family room. We were on the road 38 weeks last year, so when we come home, I love to hang out at our house, get in the pool, grill and spend some quality time with my beautiful wife, Justine, and our daughter, Windsor-Wells, who is 2, and our family. We love watching sports, college and professional. I’m a huge Notre Dame football fan, and my wife is an LSU Tiger, so we’re big into sports. A perfect day for us is just hanging out, grilling and playing with our daughter and watching her grow up.

on sunday of the 2014 WGC tournament at Doral, I was in the final group out. I’m warming up on the range, which is completely empty, when suddenly I feel this huge crowd coming, including camera crews. And here comes Tiger, who is only three shots back.

The spectators are watching his every move.

Where does he decide to hit? Directly behind me. Talk about intimidating, but I played it cool. There we are, the only two guys on the range, wearing basically the same thing— Tiger’s signature Sunday red, with black pants. He knew he was my hero, but this time I came out the winner in Sunday red. And I broke Tiger’s record of being the youngest World Golf Champion ever.

i admit , I wear cowboy boots pretty much everywhere I go. Once you get a pair of cowboy boots broken in they’re as comfortable as a pair of socks. I have more pairs of boots than I do tennis shoes. I’ll dash out to grab takeout, and I’ll find myself in a T-shirt, sweatpants and my boots. Cowboy boots are a Texas thing.

●●●

●●●

color: black. Black makes you look thinner, and every color you put next to it pops. It’s an edgy, serious color for powerful, intense people. In a business meeting, who would you take more seriously, the person in a white suit or the person in black?

a tournament and a million bucks on the line, and I might gamble. But a casino? No thanks. Justine and I went to a casino in New Orleans awhile back, and by some miracle we won $250 right when we walked in.

We proceeded to make it last the next three hours, making $10 bets here and there to make sure we came out ahead. The lack of control watching the roulette wheel spin and the dice tumble freaked me out. We didn’t drink anything, either. We have to be a casino’s worst nightmare.

let’s not forget the most underrated

Megan Bl ank/ The Pga of aMerica via geTTy iMages • oPening Page: roBerT grahaM shirT

the “Star-Spangled Banner,” I got chills. Up and down my arms and legs. Across the sides of my face, on my neck, everywhere. It was new territory for me. I only hoped that excitement would translate into good golf the next day.

●●●

players today are every bit as patriotic

as players of the past. Some guys are less demonstrative about it, which is fine. Not everyone has that type of personality. One thing I’d encourage my teammates to do, though, is not deliberately keep a lid on it.

Don’t be shy. If you’re bleeding red, white and blue, let it show. If someone gets offended by an ordinary display of patriotism, that’s a “them” problem, not a “you” problem. ●●●

i didn’t know how I’d react when I saw our

flag and heard the national anthem at the opening ceremony at Gleneagles. Would I get a lump in my throat? Would my eyes tear up? As it turned out, when they broke into

●●●

give me a 250-yard carry over water with

the golf gods don’t owe me anything.

My goal is to give them fewer opportunities to determine my fate. If I keep it out of the trees, the outcome is less in their hands. ●●●

my first tour win , at the 2013 Wyndham,

made me superstitious. Since then, I’ve only played balls with the number 3. I always have exactly 12 balls in my bag. I mark my ball tails-side up with a 1927 quarter. I carry exactly six tees in my pocket, and if I start breaking them, I have to get down to zero tees before I reload a fresh six. These were all things I did that week, and I can’t help trying to recapture that mojo every time I tee it up.

Even when I’m not playing well, I figure that if I’m loyal to the superstition, it’ll eventually pay me back. It’s crazy, but it’s how a lot of golfers think. ●●●

food is a matter of perspective. At Per-

ry’s Steakhouse at The Woodlands, there’s a bone-in steak called the Tomahawk Ribeye.

It’s enormous, and it tempts me to order it.

When I feel deserving, I give in and order it.

At that point the Tomahawk thinks it has won. But when it comes to the table, I think, I’ll show this steak who’s boss. At that point, it becomes “Man vs. Food,” and in this, the man wins. ●●●

i dream very little when I’m sleeping and a ton when I’m awake. I still do the practice-green thing of having a putt to win the Masters, the announcers whispering in the background in their dramatic way, a huge gallery there, the whole thing. I’ve never missed one of those putts, mainly because I make sure it’s a two-footer, so winning is a bygone conclusion. Positive reinforcement, you know. ●●●

key team: reed and spieth.

ajga [American Junior Golf Association]

Canon Cup, 2006. The best juniors in the nation, East against West. I’m 15 years old, and it’s the biggest team thing I’d ever seen.

There were a lot of good players, including Rickie Fowler, Bud Cauley, Kyle Stanley and Peter Uihlein. In my final-day singles match I drew Kyle, who was and is a fantastic player. He was older and heading off to college.

Kyle was having a tough week, with only two of his matches going past the 13th hole. So

‘i’d whisper to Jordan, “hey, bud, i’m beating you on this hole.” he’d answer, “oh, yeah? we’ll see about that.” ’ september 2016 | golf digest india

59

‘ComebaCks don’t happen all at onCe. FoCus on doing one good thing, and there’s a great ChanCe it’ll happen.’

starting to get homesick and missed my family and the comforts of being at home. After the first round of the tournament, Justine and a friend of ours, Phillip Costa, formulated a plan. There’s a Morton’s Steakhouse in Shanghai, and they had them send over a meal to be cooked in the kitchen at the Crowne Plaza, where we were staying. Justine phoned my caddie, Kessler, to make sure that we didn’t go out to eat after the round. I came back to the room to find this incredible spread. Ribeye steak, shrimp Alexander, mac and cheese, the works. For one night, we felt like we were back in Texas. ●●●

when it’s announced I’m playing him, our team starts chanting, “Get to 13 . . . get to 13.”

Stirring things up, you know. When I beat Kyle on the 14th hole, the reaction from my teammates was so much fun to experience.

Our team lost, but it really instilled a love for team play.

when momentum is going against a team, you’ll hear players say stuff like “Let’s suck it up” and “We gotta grind it out.” I don’t think that’s the answer. In golf, I like to think, One putt. It’s incredible how a single long putt going in, or one spectacular shot, can change everything. Comebacks don’t happen all at once. Focus on doing one good thing, and there’s a great chance it’ll happen.

●●●

●●●

a desire to pay it forward. The Insperity Invitational AJGA Junior Championship hosted by Patrick Reed, held every year at The Woodlands tournament course, is one of my proudest achievements. It’s in June, in the heart of the season, and seeing those kids competing and pursuing the same dreams I had as a kid is what it’s all about. If you want to feel good inside, do something for juniors.

three days a month at Hank Haney’s golf ranch in Texas, practicing and taking lessons. It’s the winters there I remember most.

Hank’s ranch has these converted horse stalls with mats and a heater. I’d get there at 7:30 in the morning on snowy days, turn on the heater and hit until noon. I’d go inside, eat a cheeseburger, then resume hitting until dark.

You know those huge pails of balls the size of laundry baskets? I’d go through four of those a day. I’d get these world-class blisters on the fourth finger of both hands. I wore out a ton of gloves, went through boxes of medical tape, went through a lot of pain. I felt like I was paying a price. I don’t think you can hit as many balls as I did without getting to be pretty good.

it also instilled a love for junior golf and

●●●

when our augusta state team won the NCAA Championship my sophomore year in 2010, it was a huge upset. We beat Oklahoma State, a perennial powerhouse, so it was a big deal. Augusta, even though it hosts the Masters, is actually sort of a small community.

We got a police escort back into town—not even a Masters champion gets that. As big as that was, 2011 was even bigger. We kept advancing, and in the final we went up against the University of Georgia, which I attended my freshman year. At the time, I never had a team match I wanted to win more, as Augusta State winning national championships back to back would be huge. Josh Gregory, our coach at Augusta State, was worried about me getting too hyped up. I get excited, no doubt about that, but when Josh walked up to me before my anchor match, before he could say anything, I said, “Don’t worry, I got this.” I won on the 17th hole. That was the moment when I knew that at the end of the game, I wanted the ball in my hands. ●●●

last year i was gone almost 10 months, a nice chunk of that playing the European Tour. Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Switzerland, all over the world. While I was playing in the BMW Masters in Shanghai, I was really

60 golf digest india | september 2016

for several years as a teenager, I’d spend

●●●

i’ve never had the feeling of I’ve got it now. At the 2014 Humana, I opened 63-6363, on three courses. I was 27 under par, a 54hole PGA Tour record. Lying in bed after one of those rounds, all I could think was how I left five shots out there. I was not pleased.

There’s no such thing as perfect in this game.

I know that the fun part is trying, even while knowing I’ll never get there. ●●●

at some point in my career, I hope it comes

down to me. I want to be in the deciding match on the final day. I want it all on my shoulders. I want that pressure—the whole country depending on me—and everything that goes with it. I’ve wanted that my whole life. Whether I’m put in that position is another matter, but I feel I can get the job done.

sl

lay it!

dominate with your driver By PatriCK reed With Guy yocom driving the ball well in match play is far more important than most golfers think.

Putting, of course, is huge—it’s about 40 percent of all strokes—and iron play can be a key factor, too. But it all begins with the driver.

For example, at the 2014 Ryder Cup I came to the final hole all square in my singles match against Henrik Stenson. I hit one of the best 3-irons of my life to set up a winning birdie, but it was an accurate tee shot that allowed that to happen. ▶ If you’re consistently in the fairway, it puts tremendous pressure on your opponents. It sends a message that you aren’t going to make mistakes, which can affect their morale and tempt them to take chances they wouldn’t ordinarily take. On the flip side, if you’re driving it crooked, you’re doomed. You’ll miss greens, and even if your short game is spectacular, those sloppy tee shots will catch up with you. ▶ Being a good driver in match play means having a few different shots in your bag to fit the holes and situations you’ll face. I’ll show you how to hit three types of drives that I rely on. They’ll make you more versatile off the tee—and a winner in your next match.

Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

the high bomb

grab 20 extra yards when you need it ▶ If there’s a bunker to carry, a dogleg to drive across or a par 5 to reach in two, I call on the High Bomb. It’s a towering shot designed to stay in the air as long as possible. I start by teeing the ball half an inch higher than normal and playing it a couple inches farther forward in my stance. I make a big, deliberate turn, being sure to set the club solidly at the top (below). Through impact, I swing up on the ball slightly, keeping my upper body back.

Go ahead, swing as hard as you can while staying in balance.

This is no time to wimp out!

the slinger

the butter cut

control ball flight with a piercing draw

fit the right shot into the fairway

▶ When I need a control shot, like in strong winds, I want to keep the ball low and let it run out hard. The Slinger is a drawing shot that’s sneaky long and a lot of fun to hit. I start by aligning my feet and shoulders well to the right—sometimes 30 yards—and gripping the club softly to free up my hands.

After swinging back with plenty of wrist hinge, I sling the club down along my stance line, rotating my hands and the clubface aggressively (above).

This closes the face, sending the ball on a low trajectory with a roundhouse draw.

▶ My natural shot is a draw, but when the fairway bends to the right and calls for a fade, I’ll go with the Butter Cut. I set up with my feet aligned well to the left but the clubface aimed at the target. My backswing is normal, but on the way down and through, I make sure the clubface doesn’t rotate closed.

I try to hold off my finish so the face stays pointing toward the sky for as long as possible.

Compare my position right after impact (above) to the same frame for the Slinger (far left), and you’ll see a big difference in my release.

62 golf digest india

the mental side

4 driving secrets to win your matches ▶ Strategically and psychologically, match play is different from stroke play, especially with the driver. Here are my four keys to driving in matches: 1. put it in the fairway.

Even if it means sacrificing distance, you want the ball in play.

Don’t try to keep up with longer opponents. If you’re first to hit from the fairway and find the green, you’ll add pressure.

2. don’t get discouraged.

Paired with Jordan Spieth at the 2014 Ryder Cup, I opened our first four-ball match with a popped-up tee shot that barely reached the fairway. But I hit a 3-iron onto the green, made par, and drove it well the rest of the way. Everyone hits a poor drive now and then, so hang in there.

3. favor your go-to shot.

Although I like the Butter Cut, it’s not my normal shot. When the match is close, opt for the ball flight you can trust most.

4. monitor your tempo.

I’m sure you have a good idea of the swing tempo that works best for you. Keep it steady, and pay attention to it. That’ll help your swing hold up under the pressure of a tough match.

‘NothiNg wears dowN aN oppoNeNt like seeiNg your ball coNsisteNtly iN the fairway.’ + CALLAWAY shirt, $50, hat, $28, glove, $25 FOOTJOY shoes, $110 HUBLOT watch FSQUARED pants DAVID YURMAN belt buckle, bracelet

after a series of here’s why the u.s. team

home 64 golf digest india | september 2016

ryder cup disappointments, will might win at hazeltine by jaime diaz

game Photographs by Jensen Larson

or a while now, the Ryder Cup has been the most overanalyzed event in golf. ▶ The predominant reaction has been jingoistic screed, especially postmortem. Everyone—but basically no one—is also an expert on who will win, and why. Before or after, the Ryder Cup is the game’s leading producer of sound and fury. ▶ For years, while the U.S. teams handily defeated Great Britain & Ireland (18-3-1 from 1927-’77), there was little emotion and even less analysis. The Americans simply had the better players. But that changed quickly with the addition of continental Europe in 1979, and by the mid-’80s Europe had begun to win with shocking (to Americans) regularity. The United States has lost six of the past seven biennial matches, and eight of the past 10. And with the idea that the Europeans might actually be better still too hard to accept, analysis has focused on intangibles.

Such subjects—all of which can come under the heading of team chemistry—run the gamut: captain coaching style, pairings, motivation, nationalism, assistants, matchups, team-room diversions, bonding trips, order of play, press conferences, course setup, role of spouses, and clothing are just a few.

However, it’s fair to say this year’s matches at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minn., are seeing intangibles weighed more than ever.

The reason? The overwrought, self-important and made-to-mock label of Ryder Cup Task Force, that unwieldy monster that rose from the ooze of the U.S. team’s 16½-11½ loss at Gleneagles in 2014. It was spawned when Phil Mickelson, with captain Tom Watson sitting wincingly close, dialed passive aggression to 11 and poured his salty rebuke into the Hall of Fame icon’s gaping wound: “Unfortunately we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best.”

66 golf digest india | september 2016

h a z e lt i n e ’ s “ w a l k i n g m a n ” s tat u e .

It was the most coldblooded criticism ever by an American player of his captain.

Meanwhile, the efficient harmony of the European team under Paul McGinley’s inclusive style made the U.S. team look all the more dysfunctional.

Some saw the comments as disloyal, insubordinate and a violation of time-honored code, but more lauded Mickelson for forcing needed change. Within two weeks, the task force was instituted, and very soon, the notably mellow and consensus-seeking Davis Love III was named captain. At the same time, emulating Europe, future captains were made assistant captains, with Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker enthusiastically accepting the supporting roles.

MiCKelsON MAKes His CAse

A

s much as this Ryder Cup will be seen through the prism of the task force, it will be even more of a referendum on Mickelson. After scorching so much earth, he’ll have to prove that it was worth it.

Mickelson, 46, has six top-five finishes this year, including his runner-up at Troon, to virtually ensure he will qualify for the team on points rather than put fellow taskforce member Love in the awkward position of having to pick him.

“More emphasis will probably be placed on me, good or bad, and I’m fine with that,” Mickelson said this summer. “I think I’ll be focused on things more than I should if things go well, but also more than I should if things don’t go well. But I care more about long-term success than what happens in this particular Ryder Cup in relation to the task force.”

Mickelson then presented a narrative— consciously or unconsciously self-protective—positing that the U.S. team has much to do to get back on equal footing with Europe.

“The Europeans have a psychological advantage because they’ve won so many recently,” he says. “They have great leadership.

They have great consistency in their leadership. They have continuity in the players who play, and overall continuity. And they have momentum from past successes. This is our first year trying to emulate that formula and build for success. This will be the first time we’ll have a captain [Love] who has had vice-captain experience in my 20 years of playing Ryder Cup [Corey Pavin was also a vice captain in 2006 before becoming captain in 2010]. We need them bouncing ideas off each other. But we’re 20 years behind our competition in terms of building momentum, rapport among everyone and continuity of leadership. We’ve had a different leadership style every two years for the past two decades. So we have a ways to go to catch up.”

Clearly, Mickelson believes there is a

proven Ryder Cup formula. Fair enough. But for those who expect immediate results, his projection of a possibly long process ahead is jarring. “We can’t look at the first event—this year—as a make-or-break, win-or-lose situation, fail-or-succeed scenario for our new system,” Mickelson says. “What we have to look at is our record over the next 10 years.

Can we get to 50-50? We’re 2-8 the past 20 years. Over the next 20, can we get to 5-5, or 6-4? Maybe. I think we can. But this first one is a building block. If we were to be success-

many years. I’ve heard Jack Nicklaus say he’s the only guy on my team who went 0-5 and was my MVP [at the 2003 Presidents Cup].

He’s just such a big part of so many teams in a row, and he’s a great leader on and off the golf course. He and [wife] Amy are a great steadying influence. I’ve told him, ‘We really want you on the team because of Amy. But you’ve been playing pretty good, too.’ And when we talked about assistant captains, he said not to worry about him because he was going to make the team, and that looks like the case.”

t h e 1 1 t h i s 6 0 5 ya r d s , b u t t w o pa r 5 s a r e l o n g e r : n o . 3 ( 6 3 3 ) a n d n o . 6 ( 6 4 2 ) .

WHy AMeriCA sHOuld WiN

W

hether Mickelson turns out to be a positive or negative force, the chances are he’ll come out ahead. Because whether he plays well or not, or whether task-force concepts are successful, the United States should win at Hazeltine.

Its lineup is superior. As always, based on the World Ranking, the Americans will have more depth. But this year, the three top-ranked U.S. players—Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Bubba Watson—would appear to be a more potent trio than European counterparts Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett. And the galleries in golf-starved Minnesota will roar with Midwestern zeal, producing something more than the usual home-field advantage.

Especially coming off the humiliation at

‘We’re 2-8 the past 20 years. Over the next 20, can We get tO 5-5 Or 6-4?

Maybe. I thInk We can.’

—phIl MIckelsOn ful, that will be a great thing to build on. But it doesn’t mean everything we’ve done so far has worked or is perfect.

“All a win will do is give us some momentum. Equally, if we lose it doesn’t mean we’ve failed. We’ll still have something to build on.

We’ve done that in the Presidents Cup. We’ve had a lot of success in that event [9-1-1 overall] because we’ve played some great golf.

We’ve had input with the captains, with the vice-captains, continuity and great leadership. What that does is alleviate a lot of the uncertainties for the players and give them the best opportunity to succeed. That’s all we’re trying to do.

“No matter the result this year, we need to take what was successful and build on that. Let’s say 70 percent worked. We need to get that up to more than 80 percent next time. And so on. But this is the first time the players have had a say in the Ryder Cup captaincy as well as in the process. Ultimately, that will get the players more invested.”

Frankly, it sounds like a perilous degree of clubhouse lawyering. But Love insists he wants Mickelson on the team for his positively effect on chemistry.

“We want him on there, one because he was the star at Korea [in the 2015 Presidents Cup, where Mickelson went 3-0-1],” Love says. “He’s been the star in the team room for

get to the 18th hole of match play, and anything might happen Since the rest of Europe joined the Great Britain & Ireland team for the 1979 Ryder Cup, almost four out of every 10 matches have reached the 18th hole. Where matches have ended: year / site

11th

12th

13th

14th

15th

16th

2014 Gleneagles 2012 Medinah 2010 Celtic Manor 2008 Valhalla 2006 The K Club 2004 Oakland Hills 2002 The Belfry 1999 The Country Club 1997 Valderrama 1995 Oak Hill 1993 The Belfry* 1991 Ocean Course* 1989 The Belfry 1987 Muirfield Village 1985 The Belfry 1983 PGA National 1981 Walton Heath 1979 The Greenbrier*

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 1 2 1

4 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 2 2 1 2

5 2 3 3 3 5 4 3 1 5 4 1 1 0 2 2 4 3

4 4 6 6 6 7 2 7 6 8 5 6 5 5 7 5 8 7

4 6 6 8 5 2 7 5 5 3 4 10 5 8 6 8 5 5

11 13 10 10 12 11 13 11 12 9 11 8 15 14 10 10 8 8

totals

2

4

12

30

51

104

102

196

6.0%

10.2%

20.8%

20.4%

percentage * Denotes

0.4%

0.8%

2.4%

17th

18th

39.1%

ye ar in which one match was not pl ayeD because of injury

september 2016 | golf digest india

67

Gleneagles and the heartbreaker at Medinah in 2012, the U.S. team can be expected to play with a focused desperation. The Americans might be tired from the compressed major schedule caused by the Rio Olympics, and they’ll be coming off the FedEx Cup, but several Europeans will have undergone the same run-up. “We’ve got to start a trend back the other way and make them develop a task force, you know?” says Jordan Spieth.

“There is a big focus on the end of this year.”

The wild card, the intangible that matters most, is pressure. The U.S. team will face more of it. Not just because the Europeans, with their storehouse of past victories, will be playing with house money. But because the U.S. players will be acutely aware that losing would bring down more criticism than any Ryder Cup team has ever faced. dealing with pressure

T

he pressure dynamic has always fallen in favor of Europe. America is still the world’s most dominant golf nation, always has the most star players, and as such always resides as the favorite in the collective mind. It’s why the Europeans seem to enjoy the Ryder Cup more, and why—in the opinion of knowledgeable insiders—the Americans do more choking in the Ryder Cup than any other event.

How to get the pressure off, or make it manageable, is the primary challenge of the captain. Especially in the past two decades, all sorts of approaches have been tried, from 2006 captain Tom Lehman’s let’s-talk-aboutit group therapy to the Watson’s Darwinistic challenge: Can you handle it?

Paul Azinger, harder than Lehman but more collegial than Watson, seemed to strike an effective middle ground on his winning team in 2008. “In the Ryder Cup, the players have to be ready to be more nervous than they’ve ever been,” he says. “If you think you’ll be able to pretend the pressure isn’t there, it will hit you even harder. I told them to accept all of it in advance, and get them to understand that if you’re thinking the right way, it can actually help you play better.”

Love’s approach to handling pressure has been more like Lehman’s—as a player and in his sounding-board roles as captain and former assistant. Will his players consider the loss when he was captain at Medinah something to avenge, or somehow an extension of the too many times Love didn’t close as a player? At the same time, the assistant captains at Hazeltine will presumably be more proactive, and one of them—Woods—happens to be the ultimate hardhearted closer.

One thing is sure: If the Americans lose, the cause and effect of the task force will be judged negatively. And the analysis—and the criticism—will be more intense than ever.

68 golf digest india | september 2016

t h e 4 5 2 -ya r d 1 0 t h is the second -longest pa r 4 at h a z e lt i n e .

ryder cup viewers guide television all times e astern

thursday, sept. 29 Opening ceremony, 5-8 p.m., Golf Channel Friday, sept. 30 Four morning foursomes (alternate-shot) matches followed by four afternoon four-ball (better-ball) matches, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Golf Channel saturday, oct. 1 Four morning foursomes matches followed by four afternoon four-ball matches, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., NBC sunday, oct. 2 Twelve singles matches, noon-6 p.m., NBC scoring Each match is worth one point, with matches ending in a draw worth ½ point to each side. The first team to reach 14½ points wins the Ryder Cup. If the matches end in a 14-14 draw, Europe, as the defending champion, would retain the cup. u.s. te am-se lec t i on dates aug. 28 The top eight players will be finalized at the conclusion of The Barclays. sept. 11 Davis Love III will select three of his four captain’s picks at the conclusion of the BMW Championship.

sept. 25 Love will make his final captain’s pick at the conclusion of the Tour Championship. eu rop e a n t e a m se lec t i on dat e s aug. 28 The leading four players on the Ryder Cup points list and the next five players on the Ryder Cup world points list will qualify. week of aug. 29 Darren Clarke will make his three captain’s picks.

Fu t u r e rY d e r c u p venues 2018 Le Golf National, Versailles, France 2020 Whistling Straits (Straits), Kohler, Wis. 2022 Marco Simone G. & C.C., Rome 2024 Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y. r e su lts The United States has a 25-13-2 record overall, but since the Great Britain & Ireland team added the rest of Europe in 1979, the Europeans are 10-7-1, including consecutive wins at Celtic Manor, Medinah and Gleneagles.

2 0 1 4 stat i st i c s Key statistics in Europe’s 16½-11½ victory at Gleneagles: • In 462 holes, Europe won 119 holes to the U.S. team’s 104, taking the first lead in 16 of 28 matches.

• On matches going to the last three holes, Europe had

a 15-11-20 advantage.

• On matches going to the 18th hole, Europe led, 5-4-2.

• The teams tied on par 3s (21-21-57) and par 4s (66-66-144). On par 5s, Europe led, 32-17-38.

• Europe led in holes won with a birdie or better (86-76) and holes won with a par (33-27). The U.S. team won the only hole captured with a bogey or worse. h a Z e lt i n e a m on g t h e 1 0 0 g r e at e st Hazeltine is ranked 86th among Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Courses. Its ranking among the 100 Greatest by category: shot values 53rd resistance to scoring 24th design variety 91st memorability 99th aesthetics 99th conditioning 76th ambience 89th m a J or e v e n ts at h a Ze lt i n e ryder cup 2016 pga championship 2002, 2009 u.s. open 1970, 1991 u.s. women’s open 1966, 1977 u.s. senior open 1983 u.s. amateur 2006 u.s. mid-amateur 1994

the old switcheroo

par-4 15th (normally No. 6), the par-5 16th (No. 7) and par-3 17th (No. 8). Plus, the uphill par-4 18th (previously No. 9), almost 50 yards by r o n w h i t t e n shorter than the real 18th, could yield a victorious birdie, should any match make it that far.

Still, it seems baffling that an 18-hole routing that has hosted 16 7 national championships since the 1960s suddenly needed reconfiguration. (Granted, original architect Robert Trent Jones did some major reconfiguration of his own in the 1970s.) Was this year’s reshuffling done for match-play 11 purposes?

11 15 No, says Jeffrey Hintz, direc6 tor of the 2016 Ryder Cup. “The switch was made because holes 2 7 through 9 are closer to specta2 tor exits and are more open for visibility late in the day,” he says.

So they compromised the design integrity of Hazeltine so that 17 3 spectators can get back to buses and parking lots before dark3 12 ness? Don’t believe it.

12 The business of secondguessing a golf architect dates as far back as the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club near Bos14 ton. Rejiggering holes 5 7 has also been prevalent 13 16 at Olympia Fields 13 4 Country Club near 4 Chicago and TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, where changes for the 2009 Presidents Cup were made 5 in part for corporate in Payne 6 14 hospitality tents.

Stewart’s 15 Therein lies the se1991 U.S. cret behind Hazeltine’s Open playoff gerrymandered layout. victory over Scott It’s not about accomSimpson, will be the modating spectators. It’s seventh hole during about money. The regular the matches. And the 16th is isolated down a hill uphill, 475-yard, par-4 on a ledge along the lake, with 18th, where Rich Beem little room for a corporate tent and Y.E. Yang celebrated near the fairway. The normal 17th PGA Championship victories over is heavily treed. But there’s oodles Tiger Woods, is the ninth hole for of room to place tents along the the Ryder Cup. par-5 seventh (the Ryder Cup The routing reverts to form 16th) and par-3 eighth (the 17th). on holes 10 through 13, and then That’s the driving force behind there’s another switch. Holes flip-flopping holes on a champifive through nine will play as 14 onship course. through 18.

Where golf architects hear an It’s still a dramatic finish, allegro and an adagio, championparticularly for match play, with ship officials hear cash registers. ponds guarding greens on the

why the hazeltine you recall from pgas and u.s. opens got re-routed

10

18

9 18

1

9

10

17 8

1

8

• ryder cup • pga championships, u.s. opens

hazeltine national golf club hole

yards

par

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

442 429 633 210 352 642 402 186 475

4 4 5 3 4 5 4 3 4

out

3,771

36

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

452 606 518 248 448 405 572 176 432

4 5 4 3 4 4 5 3 4

in

3,857

36

total

7,628

72

Map by Chris O’Riley

D

esign integrity be damned. Hazeltine National has been re-routed for the Ryder Cup. Golf architects often lay out designs in the manner of a symphonic composition, in varying movements, a gentle sonata to open, then a series of bold holes intermixed with quieter ones, intensity building on the back nine to achieve a crescendo on the final holes.

Officials who run golf championships are pretty much tonedeaf to such subtleties. They think nothing of reconfiguring an 18 for logistical reasons, with little regard to the ebb and flow of the original design.

The 7,628-yard Hazeltine National Golf Club is a perfect example. For the 2016 Ryder Cup, officials have set it up so competitors will play the first four holes, then skip over to the normal back nine for the next five holes (see map). That means the 352-yard 14th, potentially drivable for some, will play as the fifth hole in the Ryder Cup, and the 642-yard 15th will be the sixth. It means the gorgeous par-4 16th, which runs along the shoreline of Lake Hazeltine and figured prominently

september 2016 | golf digest india

69

How to Beat tHe Players, caddies, coaches & others exPose the weaknesses that can cost you a match

gutter credit tk

by john huggan & dave shedloski

70 golf digest india | september 2016

RydeR CuppeRs ▶ how do you beat the other guy in the ryder cup? What are his strengths? Perhaps more important, what are his weaknesses? To get answers, Golf Digest interviewed dozens of players, caddies, coaches and other keen observers of the game for their candid observations. And boy, were they candid. ▶ “If there is a worse lag putter in the game,” said one, “I’ve yet to see him.” Another player is known for this: “He enjoys pissing the other team off.” Dealing with another opponent’s gamesmanship? “You have to give it right back to him or ignore him. And if you do give it back to him, it can affect him.” ▶ This isn’t just jingoistic chirping about the enemy.

In some cases, it’s Americans critiquing Americans, or Europeans burying Europeans: “It started with slightly dodgy mechanics,” said one, “and it has developed into a full-blown mental problem.” Another player’s weakness is highlighted: “Over a bunker to a tight flag is his worst nightmare. It’s not pretty.” And this: “He’s well capable of giving up. . . . If he’s not in the mood, he’s just not in the mood.” ▶ The makeup of teams based on points wasn’t to be finalized until Aug. 28. Captains’ picks follow—the final U.S. selection won’t come until Sept.

25, the Sunday before Ryder Cup week—so we sought comments gutter credit tk

on a wide selection of players who had a chance of making the teams. ▶ Time to connect the dots on what everyone’s saying. ▶ ▶ ▶ september 2016 | golf digest india

71

U.S. CANDIDATES ●●●

keegan bradley (4-3-0) internatonal take “He’s pretty wound up,

so all you have to do is wait for something to go wrong, or remind him that something just went wrong. Which is what Miguel Angel Jimenez did [at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play, when Jimenez questioned a drop that Bradley took]. Keegan is very close to losing emotional control when he’s playing his best. He’s right on the edge. Sergio was like that early in his career. I bet Jimenez would never admit he did it on purpose, but he definitely did. When Keegan was getting his ruling, Miguel instinctively knew that going over there and offering his opinion would be something Keegan wouldn’t be too happy about. And that was a great time to make him unhappy.” Bradley admitted as much afterward: “I got schooled by a great gamer.” american takes “It doesn’t look like the putter has transitioned, and it hasn’t for a while. Where is he in the World Ranking?

[Bradley was 107th after the Open at Troon.]

He hasn’t won in four years. He’s completely disappeared, which is sad, because he’s been a spark plug for the U.S.” . . . “Whether you fear his game or not—and his game isn’t great right now—you fear his focus and his determination in a Ryder Cup setting. He’s like Ian Poulter. If he’s in a regular tournament, do you think Ian Poulter is the man to beat? Same right now with Keegan. But put either of them in the Ryder Cup, they’re very tough.” . . . “The question is how he views himself as a putter, and you have to believe he’s vulnerable there mentally.” ●●●

jason dufner (3-1-0) american takes “A lot of times he looks like

he’s thinking about his second putt before he hits his first one, and that’s no way to play in the Ryder Cup.” . . . “He’ll ball-strike you to death, but then he still has to beat you on the greens. Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t.

He tends to make enough putts, though, that he’s a tough out. Not a lot of emotion, obviously, but you need some guys like that.” . . . “He looked like he had promise, but he’s where he should be with four wins. He’s really an overachiever.” ●●●

rickie fowler (0-3-5) european take “Not the greatest at any-

thing, but OK at everything. There was a rumor at Gleneagles that the McIlroy/Fowler game was pre-arranged, and Rory thumped him [5 and 4]. If I’m Davis Love, I won’t want to repeat that. I don’t think Rickie thinks he’s as good as Rory, and I know Rory thinks he’s better than Rickie.”

72 golf digest india | september 2016

american takes “You can pair him with anyone, but you look at his Ryder Cup record and it’s like his career: good, but not many wins.” . . . “Everybody likes him and everyone wants to be his partner, but he’s clearly struggling a little bit. If he falls out on points, would you pick him? Probably.

But you’d want to see some better form.” . . . “Maybe he’s too nice at times. I mean, you want the tour full of guys like Rickie Fowler, but does his personality get in the way of winning more?” . . . “A hell of a player. He used to putt it great, and then he goes crosshand—clearly there’s an issue there.”. . .

“He can’t play from the rough like D.J. or Jason Day, so if he’s missing fairways, he might hit the green, but he won’t hit it close.” . . . “This won’t be a popular theory: The guy is a marketing genius with social media, but he seems more worried about that stuff instead of dialing in his game. He’s insanely talented, but turn off the social media and just concentrate on golf.”

as he is. What’s holding him back might be just trying too hard. He drives the ball well, putts the ball well, good iron player, but just doesn’t play at a high level as much as you think he should.” ●●●

j.b. holmes (2-0-1) european take “If there is a worse lag

putter in the game, I’ve yet to see him. I certainly wouldn’t want him as a foursomes partner.” ●●●

billy horschel (0-0-0) american take “He’s the American version

of Poulter. He acts as if every bad break is a personal insult.” ●●●

dustin johnson (4-3-0) european take “He’s really poor from the

that he does, which is why what happened to him at Olympic [2012 U.S. Open] was shocking.”. . . “He’s been in every situation imaginable.” european take “For someone as good as he is, his record in the Ryder Cup is relatively poor. The obvious reason for that is his putting. Playing against Jim, you always feel like you’ve got a chance. He’s liable to miss a short one just about any time. In foursomes, that must inhibit his partner—you can’t have a go at any putt because you don’t want to leave Jim the six-footer coming back.”

sand, especially the soft, delicate ones. No bargain on chips, either. But his bunker play is where it shows up most. Look at how he imploded at Pebble Beach in the 2010 U.S. Open.

His problems all started around the greens, trying to add loft for that required height.” american takes “For what he did at Oakmont, maybe he just fooled us all. People thought he wasn’t tough enough or too lackadaisical or too distracted, but to go through all of that and get it done, he’s probably smarter and tougher than we think.” . . .

“About the only guy who can really beat D.J. is D.J. Clearly the putter holds him back, because with his length he should be destroying everyone, but because of that he leaves the door open. He just doesn’t make enough makable putts.” . . . “Tee to green he wears you out, but the more he gets it around the green, the more average he is.”

●●●

●●●

bill haas (0-0-0) american takes “You wonder why he

zach johnson (6-6-2) european take “Short off the tee, so you al-

doesn’t come up big more often for as good

ways have that advantage. And he can’t hit

●●●

jim furyk (10-20-4) american takes “He calculates everything

‘EvEN whEN IT’S obvIoUS hE’S DrIvINg poorly, [Phil Mickelson] woN’T STop hITTINg DrIvEr. whICh mEANS ChEAp holES for ThE oppoSITIoN.’ it high enough because of his shut clubface.

A long course that requires trajectory to firm greens is really not his thing. He likes firm fairways because that gives him some run; he hates firm greens because he can’t stop the ball quickly enough. So if the pin is stuck behind a bunker, he has a hard time. His opponent will be hitting an 8-iron, and he’ll be hitting 4-iron.” ●●●

brooks koepka (0-0-0) european take “I know he’s worked hard on

his putting stroke, to the point of revamping

PreViOUs PaGe: rUssell Cheyne/reUters • this PaGe: ian MaCniCOl/Getty iMaGes

observations on

it completely. That still hasn’t bedded in. So you can expect him to miss something in every round.” american takes “Experience is a question, but experience is probably overrated when our experience has been losing. He pairs up well with a lot of guys. He hits it 320 off the tee, keeps it in play. He’s a decent putter.

And he’s hungry.” . . . “Talented and cocky, which is good in a Ryder Cup. Cocky can rub the guys on the other side the wrong way.

He’s a very nice guy, but he has this swagger to him. I like that he’s one bad mother, and if he’s paired with the right person, that can be distracting to opponents.” . . . “Great game, but still very much a work in progress.

Kind of a one-tool player right now with his driving, but nothing else seems particularly great, and his game around the greens is below average.” . . . “He’s a lot like Dustin in that he plays like he doesn’t care a lot, which is actually an asset a lot of times.”

opposition.” . . . “He has always been more capable than any other world-class player of missing from incredibly short range. His stroke gets too long sometimes. The forward press gets too exaggerated. So he ends up making a 15-foot stroke on a three-footer.

Then he decelerates through impact.” american takes “He’s great at ribbing the other team. He can piss somebody off, and he likes it. He enjoys pissing the other team off.” . . . “Wish he wouldn’t be giving Justin Rose a thumbs-up after Rose made that putt at Medinah. After the Tom Watson deal at

●●●

Gleneagles, there’s pressure on him. He’s going to be asked about it, and his time is right around the corner as a captain.” . . . “He’s got every shot you can imagine, but the easy shots, the ones right in front of him, he tends to screw up. When he focuses his brain, he can hit any shot. He almost overthinks every shot. So in the Ryder Cup, focusing like he does, he’s tough.” . . . “He probably hits more poor wedge shots from 80 to 100 yards than anyone of his talent level. They’re too easy for him, almost.” . . . “If he doesn’t play in the Tiger Woods era, how many more wins does he have? He’s probably in the top five all time. Where is he today? Still really talented, but there’s a roller-coaster aspect because he still is so aggressive. So he’s going to win and lose based on that roller-coaster ride.”

matt kuchar (4-5-2) american takes “He’s the Joker from Bat-

man. He smiles, but he’ll kill you. If he hits it bad he has trouble scoring sometimes, but he doesn’t hit it bad a lot. Mentally, he’s a giant.” . . . “His demeanor and attitude is the one you’d want in every player.” . . . “He might be one of the most competitive guys on tour, but he doesn’t show it. To be able to change his entire golf swing and come back, he’s obviously a battler. He doesn’t excite you, though, with his game.” . . . “He’s simply not a great closer, and that suggests putting, because he plinks it down the middle of every fairway.” . . . “He does everything well, so the way you beat him is to outrun him and put pressure on him to make birdies. Under the gun, he doesn’t seem like quite the same guy. That’s not to say he can’t handle pressure, but the steadiness goes away a little.” european take “He clearly doesn’t have many weaknesses, other than he lacks some length off the tee. He’s pretty neat and tidy everywhere, with one exception: He really isn’t very good at what appear to be straightforward 20-to-30-yard chip shots. It looks to me like his brain disengages a little on those. Plus, you have to ultimately question his temperament when the pressure is at its highest. He’s won over $35 million and never won a major. That leads me to believe something vital is missing.”

Mike ehrMann/Getty iMaGes

●●●

phil mickelson (16-19-6) european takes “Massive questions off

the tee, as we’ve seen many times over the years. His driving can be all over the place.

He’s more comfortable moving the ball left to right than right to left. His big weakness, though, is his stubbornness. Even when it’s obvious he’s driving poorly, he won’t stop hitting driver. Which means cheap holes for the

him in singles, but his ball-striking has fallen off, and even with his bulldog mentality in match play, that’s too much to overcome.” ●●●

webb simpson (2-3-1) american takes “It depends on how he feels

with his game that day, because he’s been inconsistent. I think that all stems from switching from the belly putter. It’s all he’s ever known, and it has cost him some confidence.” ●●●

brandt snedeker (1-2-0) european take “His weakness is his driv-

‘yoU CANNoT holE ThAT mANy pUTTS. wE’ll fIND oUT how gooD [Jordan sPieth] IS whEN hE STopS DoINg ThAT.’

●●●

patrick reed (3-0-1) european take “On the surface there isn’t a

lot to pick on with Patrick, but his putter has gone cold this year. He relies on that a lot. He’s neither a great nor a consistent ball-striker.

Maybe he’s worked on that and neglected his putting. But he’s holing nothing this year.

From six to 15 feet, he’s having a horrible year. That, of course, is in his head. And don’t think the other players haven’t noticed.” american takes “He’s a bulldog. He proved that at Gleneagles. Can’t think of anyone who wants to win more in those head-tohead situations.” . . . “Killer instinct in match play. He’s very passionate to the point of almost building up hate for the opponent. His swing is still a bit under construction, but it’s coming along.” . . . “He’s got everything going for him but his temperament, and once he gets that figured out, he’ll be even better.

That seems to work for him in the Ryder Cup, but it makes him a tough pairing, too, because he ain’t easy.” . . . “Total mystery why he’s not playing better. No one wants to draw

ing. He’s neither particularly straight or long.

So he can be short and crooked. Under the ultimate pressure you have to doubt his ability to smash one down the middle when he really has to. And if he can’t, his short-game strengths aren’t going to come into play. Not sure I’d want him as a foursomes partner, which limits his usefulness to Davis Love.” ●●●

jordan spieth (2-1-1) european takes “It’s hard to question

someone so obviously good, but Jordan’s ball-striking is nothing like as good as those around him at the top of the World Ranking—nothing. There are people I know around the top of the game who call him ‘the sclaffer; he can’t hit it at all.’ But he mis-hits straight, although he can lose it to the right, big-style. We’ve all seen that.” . . .

“Yes, his putting is extraordinary, but when he stops holing 20 percent of his 20-footers— which no one has ever done for a sustained period—the question arises: Is he that good?” . . . “The last Ryder Cup was interesting. He was well up on GMac [Graeme McDowell] early on, but there was always a sense that he was vulnerable, because he hits bad shots.

GMac got at him [defeating Spieth, 2 and 1].

And Jordan succumbed to the pressure. In those situations, he’s vulnerable. His head goes down. He gets frustrated, and he starts to call himself out. Given that, it’s possible to get in his face. On the right day, that would get to him, and you could wind him up. All you have to do is wait for him to react.” . . .

“When he won the Tour Championship last year, he played with Henrik [Stenson], who was shaking his head at the end. He had flushed it, and Jordan had hit the ball quite poorly. ‘Quite poorly?’ Henrik asked.

‘He holed everything.’ ” . . . “He relies on his putter to an unhealthy extent. His stats from tee to green are not that great, which means september 2016 | golf digest india

73

●●●

jimmy walker (1-1-3) american takes “I don’t know what’s go-

ing on there. He’s too talented to have this recent drop-off. He’s having trouble getting into the mix. He works hard, but he’s not getting the results.” . . . “Great short game, but everything depends on his tee ball. He can be wild off the tee. When he finds fairways, he’s ridiculously good.” . . . “He stopped winning when he put lighter shafts in his irons.

I don’t know why he did that, but his iron play has become very erratic, and he isn’t the straightest driver. That combination puts a lot of pressure on his putter.” international take “Jimmy would be tough to play match play against. He’s a great driver and a good putter. And a nice guy. It’s hard to dislike him. Maybe the only chink is that he can miss it right sometimes with the driver.”

drops off.” . . . “His driving is long but wild.

So there is always the potential for him to hand a hole to his opponent. He can go out and beat you, 5 and 4, but you could do the same to him. I wonder how much fight he has in him when he’s 2 down after five. Is he coming back? Probably not. He’ll more than likely fold up.” . . . “He’s easily upset, too. The crowd can get to him. He doesn’t like being touched. So he has so much vulnerability.” american take “If he’s into it, if he loves the golf course, he isn’t easy to beat, but the question is, can you get him into it? Attitude is everything with Bubba, because he has all the shots. If I’m Europe, I’m pointing out all the trouble at Hazeltine and letting Bubba chew on that.”

observations on

EUROPEAN CANDIDATES ●●●

rafael cabrera bello (0-0-0) european takes “He’s improved a bit this

year, as his results show, but his chipping is really dodgy. Under Ryder Cup pressure, I can see him falling apart when he misses a green. Would be surprised to see him playing foursomes for that reason. The pressure on his partner to hit the greens and not have him chip would be too much to ask of anyone.” . . . “He’s all right on the flop shot, or anything where there’s some grass under the ball. But give him a tight lie, and he’s always going to struggle. A bit of that is technical— he gets the club too much to the inside going back—but a lot of it is mental. He had a period maybe a year ago when he had what looked like the yips. He was dreadful. He duffed so many straightforward shots from tight lies where he couldn’t get the club under the ball. But he has been better this year.”

●●●

bubba watson (3-8-0) european takes “His head is his weakness.

He talks a lot about ‘energy levels.’ He has to feel energized to perform. And because of his personality, he finds that difficult to do. In a Ryder Cup, where you play multiple matches in a short period and there’s a lot of pressure, you can see him getting mentally fatigued quite quickly. And so his performance level

‘[Sergio garcia] lIkES TO PlAy lITTlE B.S. gAmES, AND hE’S COmfORTABlE wINNINg PlAyINg ThOSE B.S. gAmES If hE CAN’T BEAT yOU wITh hIS ClUBS.’ 74 golf digest india | september 2016

●●●

jamie donaldson (3-1-0) european take “He’s struggling with his

swing. He has a mechanical issue that he and his coach can’t seem to fix. It leads to a hook more often than not. Sometimes a block to the right. And he can’t stop it. And he’s waiting for it to happen. Which is no good.” ●●●

victor dubuisson (2-0-1) european take “For this guy, golf is all

about mental engagement. Is he in the mood or not? If he makes the team, he’ll need to be treated differently. No obvious weaknesses in his game. But get him at the right time, and he won’t exactly be battling. He’s well capable of giving up. He walked off in China earlier this year for no reason other than he didn’t fancy it. So he just went. If he’s not in the mood, he’s just not in the mood.” ●●●

matt fitzpatrick (0-0-0) european takes “He’s solid enough, but

not really that good at anything. Whenever I play with him I always think I’m better than he is. Nothing impresses that much. I suspect the Americans will feel the same way.” . . . “For me, he’s not quite ready for the Ryder Cup. He claims his swing is ‘a work in progress.’ To me, that means he’s struggling with changes.” ●●●

sergio garcia (18-9-5) american takes “More than any of their

guys, Sergio likes to mess with you. He likes to play little b.s. games, and he’s comfortable winning playing those b.s. games if he can’t beat you with his clubs. It’s totally chickenshit, and you have to give it right back to him or ignore him. And if you do give it back to him, it can affect him.” . . . “You can get in his head the easiest, but he still seems tough in the Ryder Cup. If you really wanted to try to rattle him, make him putt everything.” . . .

“If you need to have the last point of the Ryder Cup, you’d want to see Sergio playing for their side.” . . . “Sergio isn’t a choker, but has he ever made a putt in a major when it really counted at the end? That’s why you feel like he can be beaten.” . . . “He can go dark, and his body language is going to tell you a lot about where his head is at. And if that happens, then you have the opening to try to put him away because he might have checked out. He can go haywire in the head, yeah.” european take “Sergio is so streaky on the greens. Sometimes he actually looks OK. And his stats are better inside eight feet.

But he doesn’t win nearly as often as he should. And that can only be because of his putting. He stands up there just not believing they’re going to go in, an attitude that soon becomes clear to an opponent. Having said that, he has holed some terrific putts in the Ryder Cup. But look what Anthony Kim

Harry How/Getty ImaGes

he can’t ever dominate the game. Jason Day and Rory are both capable of being No. 1 for five years. Jordan just isn’t. He cannot do what he does well for a long time. The greens are not that pure. You cannot hole that many putts. We’ll find out how good he is when he stops doing that.” american takes “Best player in the game, but he’s high maintenance. I think the way you beat him is to rattle [his caddie] Michael Greller, if that’s even possible. Jordan wears him out.” . . . “Jordan knows this as well as anyone, but his iron play is fairly weak. He’s squeezing it. He’s squeezing it with the left hand coming down, and with that bent elbow it’s leaving the clubface open. That says he’s forcing it, and he’s pressing just a little, maybe playing with a little more anxiety than a year ago.” . . . “He’s been one of the best players in the world for a few years now, but sometimes you wonder about his attitude. What we see on TV takes away from how good he is. That’s not fair to him because he has every camera and microphone on him, but the way he comes across is a bit whiny. He’s too talented for any of that.”

●●●

martin kaymer (4-3-3) european takes “Martin has the heebie-

jeebies on his chipping. He can play the flop shot, but he has trouble with relatively straightforward chips from tight lies. It started with slightly dodgy mechanics, and it has developed into a full-blown mental problem.” . . . “He tends to get the club coming into the ball on a bad angle. He tends to move his body forward and gets a bit steeper.

Then he starts ‘scooping’ with his hands to create loft. Generally it’s that lack of loft that leads to problems for most people.” . . .

“The irony is that he is starting to look really good again from tee to green. And his putting is warming up. But he has to resolve his chipping problem. I see him standing there trying to hit the wrong shot because he just doesn’t have the right shot.” . . . “All of which makes him difficult to use in a foursomes match. But he is such an asset in every other way. If he can get his mechanics better, the confidence might return.” american takes “You’d want him not driving it well, but he’s obviously incredibly solid when he’s on.” . . . “I’d like to see him get tied up with all the angles and swing planes while he’s trying to deal with Ryder Cup pressure.

The angles get off, and who knows?” ●●●

soren kjeldsen (0-0-0) european takes “His game is built on ac-

curacy, consistency and his ability from 100 yards in. He’ll make a good foursomes partner, but length is a problem. He simply can’t hit it high enough or long enough to compete on some holes. But he won’t go away. He’s a determined little sod.” . . . “He’s very cautious.

When there is, say, water up the left, he’ll play way right to avoid it. Even to the extent that he’ll hit into the rough on the right and maybe not be able to reach the green. He doesn’t seem to trust himself as much as he should.

So on really tough holes, he’s suspect.” ●●●

shane lowry (0-0-0) european take “He has one of the best short

gutter credit tk

games on the planet, so you can never quite count him out of any hole. He has beautiful soft hands and a great rhythm on the short shots. He is, however, a little hot and cold with the putter. And, for such a great driver, his iron play is really not that good. He just doesn’t hit it close that often, despite playing from the fairway so much.” ●●●

graeme mcdowell (8-5-2) american takes “He might be the weakest

player they have. He could rise to the occasion in the Ryder Cup, but does any part of his game really impress you at the moment?”

‘If I wAS PlAyINg [rory Mcilroy], I wOUlDN’T BE CONCEDINg mANy ShORT ONES. hE’S lIkEly TO mISS AT ANy TImE fROm UNDER fOUR fEET.’

. . . “Yeah, he doesn’t have a great swing, and he’s inconsistent, but he’s so strong mentally that it’s almost irrelevant how he’s hitting it.

He could snap-hook his first three drives, and he’ll hang in there and find a way to stay in a match. But his driving is the weakest part of his game.” european takes “His technique is not great; never has been. He has the left-wrist issue that closes the clubface. He has done so well to become a world-class player with that going on. Especially if you haven’t got Dustin Johnson’s power and athleticism— and Graeme doesn’t—you’re going to struggle. Dustin basically takes his hands out of it and uses his body. But Graeme isn’t strong enough to do that. Not to the same extent, anyway.” . . . “For those reasons, Graeme is vulnerable on a big, long, soft course where you need to flight your shots high.” . . . “GMac’s biggest weakness is his chipping from tight lies. Over a bunker to a tight flag is his worst nightmare. It’s not pretty. He gets the clubface closed. He gets his left wrist bowed. So he hasn’t got enough loft on the club to play a delicate shot. Because the clubface is shut through impact, he isn’t able to use the bounce on the club.” . . . “You can see it on his face when he has a chip he doesn’t fancy much. He long ago accepted he can’t play those properly. He can duff it. He can skull it across the green. To add the loft he needs, he ends up ‘scooping.’ And when you do that, you can hit it fat or thin.” ●●●

rory mcilroy (6-4-4) european takes “Rory is interesting. Some-

times he doesn’t focus properly on straightforward chips. When that happens, he just isn’t engaged by the shot. So he makes a basic error and doesn’t get it up and down.

He plays the awkward ones very well. So it’s not mechanical, it’s mental.” . . . “Rory is prone to a ‘flip’ off the tee that goes left or a

big push that goes right. It all revolves around his takeaway. His tendency is to get the club going back on the wrong track, which means he has to manipulate something through impact. Traditionally he takes it away on the outside, then drops it on the inside. But I talked to his coach, Michael Bannon, and he had actually gotten into the habit of rolling the club too much to the inside going back. Most people would then come ‘over the top,’ but he doesn’t. He gets more ‘underneath,’ which is even worse.” . . . “There are times when Rory is going to give opponents some hope off the tee. He hits it so far that when he’s even a little off, he can be wild. Other times, of course, he’s likely to win a match just with his driving.” . . . “Rory’s putting is an issue. He misses a lot of opportunities. So he’s nearly always going to give encouragement to an opponent. If I was playing him, I wouldn’t be conceding many short ones. He’s likely to miss at any time from under four feet.” american takes “Did he figure out his putting? Because if he did, then he doesn’t have to rely on driver as much. But even that isn’t a weakness per se. He’s won four majors, so he’s not going to give you many openings.” . . . “The thing you want to see is that driver going all over the place. If he’s off, you need to start walking ahead of him and give him something to look at as he’s walking to his ball.” . . .

“The thing about playing Rory is, you can’t get overly impressed with his physical abilities. Just ignore the 300-yard drives or you’re going to start thinking, How am I going to beat this guy?” . . . “The way to beat Rory is to tell him to show up three hours early with a good night’s sleep.” ●●●

thorbjorn olesen (0-0-0) european take “Another player whose

strength is tee to green. If I was Darren [Clarke], I’d be looking at how many guys I have whose relative weakness is putting.

Olesen is a winner when he gets in position.

He just doesn’t do that very often. So more days than not, he’s going to lose to a really good player. He’s so inconsistent.” ●●●

thomas pieters (0-0-0) european take “He’s a blaster. Hits it miles

but has little feel for the in-between shots.

So if he’s not hitting from a good number, he struggles. Not too keen on windy days, either. Not sure he’s got all the shots yet.

Manufacturing something in a difficult situation is not his forte.” september 2016 | golf digest india

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montana PrItcHard/ tHe PGa of amerIca vIa Getty ImaGes

did to him at Valhalla. Sergio was putting poorly, and armed with that knowledge, Kim hammered him [5 and 4].”

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Volume 1 issue 1

danny willett (0-0-0) american take “He’s solid, but he isn’t

●●●

justin rose (9-3-2) american takes “Like a lot of their guys,

FUtUrists

his swing is good, but he isn’t a great putter.

Actually, he is a very streaky putter, and like a lot of their team, he gets streaky good every other year in the fall.” . . . “You have to beat him. He’s not going to give you anything, Think Young | PlaY hard because he hits the ball so solidly. He’s going to give himself 14 to 15 holes where he’s looking at birdie. He isn’t going to give you many holes. Now, I think he can be a little whiny. You’d want to see a little anxiety in

‘[Lee WestWood’s] chipping and pitching are not good. everyone knows that. it’s more mental than physical.’

AdriAn dennis/AFP/GeTTY iMAGes

his attitude. Then you know there might be an opening.” european takes “Like Henrik—his partner at the last Ryder Cup—the clear weakness is his putting. He’s trying all these strange grips, which suggests he’s searching. And that is just what the opponent wants to see.” . . . “His play on the greens makes him very beatable. His average putting is OK, but his poor putting is really, really bad. On the wrong/right day just about anyone on the U.S. team could take him out.”

●●●

andy sullivan (0-0-0) european takes “Like [Danny] Willett,

he’s way better when a fade is the shot. He calls it his ‘lemonade’—rhyming slang for ‘little fade.’ He doesn’t make many birdies to left-hand pins or on right-to-left doglegs.

He’s just not comfortable with either.” . . .

“He and Willett will never be partners at the Ryder Cup. They really don’t like each other. Goes back to their amateur days, apparently. So I would think Darren will keep them well apart.”

●●●

●●●

henrik stenson (5-4-2) american takes “Another great swing, but

lee westwood (20-15-6) european takes “The tempo of his putting

does he always stand up to the pressure? He hits it so good. He’s so strong. He doesn’t consistently make as many putts as some of the other top players, but if he’s hitting it well, he doesn’t have to.” . . . “He can beat you with his ball-striking, but if he has that day where nothing is going in, he can get frustrated and then that might seep back into the rest of his game.” european takes “The obvious weakness with Henrik is his putting. But even there, when he’s good, he’s really good. His mechanics are actually really sound. So it has to be mental. On days when he’s off, he seems to lose confidence quite quickly, especially from inside 10 feet. I wouldn’t give him many putts. In match play that’s all potentially disastrous.” . . . “This isn’t a massive weakness, but Henrik is not great when he has to hit something other than a full wedge. For him, that’s about 150 yards.

So anything between 140 and 70 yards is awkward for him. He doesn’t make a lot of birdies from that sort of range. He bombs it down a short par 4 to what should be birdie territory and too often doesn’t get it done.”

stroke is sometimes dodgy. When it’s not going well, his stroke looks long and slow, followed by a staccato hit. Then when he tries to get more fluid, it tends to get short and quick. But his biggest fault is that he hits too many putts off the toe of the club.

When he does that, the ball comes off a little dead. That leads to poor distance control.

And that puts pressure on his short putting. There isn’t much point in working on rhythm and flow when you don’t have a constant hit. That leads to so many misses. And so much encouragement for the other guy.” . . . “Lee’s chipping and pitching are not good. Everyone knows that. It’s more mental than physical. But the tilt in his full swing—that is compensated for by his bent left arm at impact—is a problem when the shorter swing doesn’t give him time to recover from a loss of height on the backswing.” . . . “He’s particularly unhappy chipping and pitching from tight lies. But happier when there’s grass under the ball.” american take “Doubt he makes the team.

They already seem weak with the putter, and we know he won’t help them with that.”

intimidating. He just does everything to a pretty high level.” european takes “There has never been much bad to say about his full swing, but the Danny of maybe two years ago was prone to the odd duffed pitch or chip. We haven’t seen so much of that lately, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that weakness reappear on days when he is not playing at his best.” . . . “He doesn’t have any obvious weakness, but he likes to move the ball left to right. That’s his stock shot. He can hit a draw, but he’s not particularly comfortable doing so. A flag hard left or a right-to-left dogleg can give him trouble.”

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Play he last couple seasons I’ve hit the ball more solid than ever. Instead of constantly trying different swing thoughts, I’ve worked with Butch Harmon to really focus my approach. With my posture at address, I always confirm that my chin is high.

If your chin is stuck on your chest, there’s no room for the front shoulder to turn under it, so you’ll tend to tilt toward the target instead of loading onto your back leg. My thought on the backswing is to stay wide.

A lot of average golfers get hung up on keeping the right elbow tucked to the body. At the top of the swing, all that matters with the right elbow, Butch says, is that it points down. Swing your hands as far from your body as feels comfortable, and then just let ’er rip. —with max adler

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Hittin’ It Great A few keys for getting from tee to green by rickie fowler Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

september 2016 | golf digest india

77

Play Your Best Long Game

waGGLe LIke a pro Being meticulous with your setup is important, but my top priority over the ball is to stay loose. If I sense tension in my forearms, neck or anywhere, I get rid of it with a gentle waggle of the club back and forth. see how my thumb is off the grip? Lightly re-gripping the club a bit as I rehearse the first part of my takeaway is my go-to trick. while waggling, I stare down my target, then glance at the ball to start my swing. struggling golfers tend to do the opposite: they’ll stare at the ball, growing tense, and glance at the target with no real commitment to the shot.

stay down and extend through the ball, I think about maintaining the spine angle I started with at address. this helps my feet stay heavy and quiet. with a stable base, I can just fire my right side through the shot. to me, it kind of feels like I’m throwing the club and my right arm in a straight line at the target (left). In pro-ams, probably the most common fault I see is guys standing up at impact. they straighten both legs and get up on their toes. without great timing, this kills your consistency. you want to extend your arms, not your legs.

78 golf digest india | september 2016

“If I’ve made a good swing, my arms feel soft.”

CHeCk yoUr BaLanCe I already emphasized the importance of being tension-free at the start, and the same goes for the finish.

I know I’ve gone too hard if I’m straining—even slightly—to keep my balance as I watch the shot. Butch says the arms are the real indicators. It’s true, if I’ve made a good swing, my arms feel soft. If I’m out of balance, I’ll notice my arms flexing or straightening to save me from stumbling. Here, see how my right shoulder is closer to the target than my left, and the shaft is in a steady position behind my head? that’s a pure finish. I hit this one stiff. rickie Fowler is a Golf Digest Playing Editor and has three wins on the PGA Tour. + PUMA shirt, $75 pants, $80 shoes, $180 belt, $45 hat, $26 TITLEIST glove, $25

1.46

6th

on toUr

strokes GaIned, tee to Green It’s kind of complicated, but this stat means I gain about a shot and a half per round on my competitors thanks to better ball-striking.

Because the tour tracks every shot, they can calculate how each one compares to the field. suppose the average drive on a given par 4 is 286 yards in the first cut of rough, and from there the average is three shots to hole out (a par). If I bust a drive 320 down the middle, this is a zone where the field might be averaging 2.7 strokes to hole out. that drive has increased my chance of making birdie by .3 shots. similarly, a 9-iron to 10 feet instead of 20 is a partial gain, because we make that shorter putt more often.

Golf’s about hitting more strong shots than weak ones. this stat quantifies it.

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Volume 1 issue The Golf Life 1Style by Marty Hackel

Playing it Cool

2

Think Young | PlaY hard

here was a time—not too long ago— when the golf shop was segregated: Older guys browsed in one section, younger guys in another. Not anymore. Today’s shirts have universal appeal because material technology has made them moisture-wicking, breathable, stretchable and wrinkle-free.

A modern golf outfit begins with one of these new shirts.

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Get Your Head in the Game Trying to keep it still can ruin your ball-striking he old saying about keeping your eye on the ball was actually a cue some instructors used to help golfers maintain their shoulder tilt from setup through impact.

Unfortunately, it has been misinterpreted over the years to mean you should keep your head down and dead still when you swing. Doing that leads to

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Photographs by J.D. Cuban

a restricted motion back and through—and poor shots.

So what should your head be doing? Well, it’s a bit of personal preference. Jack Nicklaus liked to tilt his head away from the target before taking the club back, like he was staring at the ball with his left eye only. That allowed him to make a freer backswing. Other players, like

Annika Sorenstam, let their heads rotate toward the target during the downswing to help them power through the ball.

Curtis Strange let his head move laterally in both directions— away from the target going back, toward the target going through. Those can all work.

The most important thing is to keep your head from bobbing up and down. If it does, you have to return it to the level it was at address to make solid contact. That’s tough to do consistently. Remember, it’s OK to slide or swivel your head—just maintain your height.

ELEMENTARY WATSON Several years ago Golf Digest ran photos of my swing from 1980 and 2009.

What it showed was that although some aspects of my swing had changed, my head moved the same way.

I let it rotate a little away from the target in the backswing and a little toward the target in the downswing.

I still do today (above).

Tom Watson is a Golf Digest Playing Editor.

september 2016 | golf digest india

81

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Shortcuts by Tom Watson Play Your Best

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Volume 1 issue Play Your Best1 Step by Step by David Leadbetter

%

You’re playing in an event being decided by a chip-off.

What do you hope for? ▶ Cushy lie in the rough: 36% ▶ 8-iron bump-and-run: 33% ▶ Pitch over sand: 26% ▶ Match of cards instead: 5% source: Golf DiGest reaDers

Automatic Chipping Get it close by keeping the wrists firm

f you’re struggling to consistently hit good chip shots, you might want to copy the simple technique many pros use. They eliminate extraneous handand-wrist action to create a more reliable chipping motion.

This “wristless” shot is so easy to execute, I did it without crushing one of my trademark hats (above). Learn to do it in four simple steps.

I

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1. NArrow your StANCe

2. SwiNg the triANgLe bACk

3. StAyiNg CoNNeCteD

4. quiet your hANDS

▶ Set up with your body aligned slightly left of the target and your weight favoring your front foot. the key adjustment here is to stand with your feet close together. that helps prevent excess body motion, which could lead to poor contact.

▶ take note of the triangular shape formed by your arms and chest at address. when you make a backswing, your goal should be to preserve that triangle by turning your chest away from the target.

▶ keep the upper part of your right arm touching the side of your chest throughout the stroke. but make sure you don’t become tense or stiff. this connection will help you control the swing.

▶ rotate your chest toward the target as your hands and wrists stay virtually inactive. the longer the chip, the more aggressively you should rotate.

Control distance by the speed of your turn, not the length of your swing.

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82 golf digest india | september 2016

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Strategy by Jack Nicklaus Play Your Best

“There’s often a side where you absolutely cannot miss.”

Pick Your Punch A bowl-shape green serves several options

feeliNg StroNg?

he punchbowl green is a classic design feature that you see scattered all over the world. The 16th at National Golf Links of America in New York has one of the more famous on this side of the pond. The punchbowl name is plainly descriptive: The green is the bottom, and rising high on three— or maybe all four—sides is a round collar that collects wayward shots and funnels them onto the green.

Originally, greens were built like this to better retain moisture for the grass to stay hydrated. The Scots and Irish looked for natural depressions in the land where rainfall gathered and whipping winds and the rising sun didn’t dry the ground as quickly. Nowadays, irrigation systems are so good that we really just build greens like this for fun.

The par-4 sixth at Dismal River (illustrated) in Mullen, Neb., is one of my favorite punchbowl greens that I’ve designed. Let me walk you through how to handle one.

—with max adler

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If you’re downwind— or maybe you’ve been pumping iron—this green can be reached with the tee shot. But consider if executing 30- or 40-yard pitches or bunker shots to an elevated green is a strength of your game.

That’s where you risk leaving your ball. Most golfers find it easier to make a full swing into the green.

JuSt a wedge Day to day, this is the ideal place to put the tee shot. You’ll have a wedge and a prime opportunity to knock one close. The bunkers left of the green are the most severe, so favor going right and long.

Stray a little in those directions, and your ball will likely kick down onto the green.

With punchbowls, there’s often a side where you absolutely cannot miss and two where the misses aren’t too bad.

beSt SPot for Shorter hitterS Hitting your tee shot here is the play if you don’t feel comfortable carrying a drive to the second fairway. As a shorter hitter, don’t abandon your sound judgment by going for the green with the next shot. There’s too much trouble around this green to be coming at it with anything other than a short iron or wedge. Instead, lay one short of the fairway bunker and then pitch on. The concave shape of the green should help it nestle close.

Illustration by Chris O’Riley

Since I designed Dismal River and we opened it in 2006, Mother Nature has altered the look and play of some of the holes. As strong winds sweep across these rolling hills, bunkers often change size and shape. The bunkering on this sixth hole is a perfect example.

I always like to say that golf courses evolve over time; the clock just ticks a little faster at places like Dismal River. september 2016 | golf digest india

83

jim mandeville/ the nickl aus companies

designs are living things

Play Your Best Swing Sequence arc Leishman’s teacher had a plan for his young student in 2002: “Marc had players he looked up to—like Greg Norman and Ernie Els—but we never tried to copy a swing. We continually tried to develop a better version of Marc Leishman.”

At 18, Leishman, who is Australian, met teacher Denis McDade and entered the renowned Victoria Institute of Sport in Austra-

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Marc Leishman A free-flowing, powerful swing all his own

84 golf digest india | september 2016

lia. VIS is the government-funded program that has produced players like Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby and has become a blueprint worldwide for developing elite golfers.

Now 14 years later, McDade has seen Leishman go from top junior player to 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year to major-championship contender. (He lost to Zach Johnson in a playoff at the British Open last summer.)

Leishman got an early start in the game, at Warrnambool Golf Club across the street from his childhood home. He says he learned more by playing than practicing and was always challenging someone to a contest. “The course required creativity and the ability to maneuver the ball,” McDade says. “The result is a player who has more shots than anyone I’ve ever coached.” —roger schiffman

a reLaXeD Start

togetHerneSS

Staying LooSe

In his setup, Marc Leishman is balanced, athletic and tension-free, with his head well behind the ball. “All great keys for driving it long and straight,” says his teacher, Denis McDade, director of coaching at BannLynch Golf in Melbourne, Australia.

“Marc is swinging his arms and the club away in sync with his upper-body rotation, and his lower body is providing a stable base,” McDade says.

“Look at how the ratio of arm swing, upperbody turn and lowerbody turn are in balance with each other.”

At the top, Leishman is coiled but shows no stress.

Note the relaxed look of his arms—he even lets the left elbow bend— which allows a freewheeling motion down and through. “Amateurs tend to tense up going back,” McDade says.

“Marc’s as tension-free as they get.”

▶ Driving DiStance

295.8 yDS

Marc Leishman (42nd)

▶ Driving accuracy

288.5 yDS

312.7 yDS

tour average

J.B. Holmes (1st)

60.8%

Marc Leishman (81st)

59.8%

73.9%

tour average

colt Knost (1st) s o u rc e : s h ot l i n k

Lower BoDy LeaDS

an aggreSSive rip

finiSHing toucH

pro-fiLe

Starting down, Leishman shifts toward the target and starts his move into impact. “His upper body is still closed to the target, his arms are still relatively soft, and his head is staying back,” McDade says.

“Those positions are perfect for driving with power and control.”

Leishman looks balanced, tall and strong at impact. His body has rotated open relative to address, which supports the impact position of the hands leading the clubhead. “Impact is the only frame where Marc looks like he has any tension in his arms,” McDade says.

It’s all about rotation here.

“In every frame of the downswing Marc’s head is turning forward,” McDade says. “He’s a little inflexible in his left hip, so to make a full release and stay in balance, he lets his left foot rotate out. It’s another way of matching his swing to his physical capabilities.”

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Photographs by Dom Furore

Play Your Best Equipment by Mike Stachura

ping ibl a d e ▶ Its compact size makes it plenty workable, but it’s also forgiving. The thin face helps to boost distance, and tungsten in the toe adds stability. price $1,300 taylor m a d e m 2 to u r ▶ It borrows distance technology from the larger and wider M2—like the flexing sole slot. But here all that comes in a smaller package to make it easier to shape shots. price $900

▶ The thin face insert screams distance, but don’t overlook the subtle attributes: The sole design means greater speed through the turf, and larger grooves help control spin from the rough. pric e $1,100

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sr ixo n z 565

Two-thirds of the PGA Tour no longer play a muscle-back blade. mizuno jpx 9 0 0 to u r ▶ For optimal feel, it’s forged from the same carbon steel as Mizuno’s classic blades. But the perimeter weighting on the heel and toe results in Mizuno’s most forgiving players iron. p ri ce $1,200

wi s hon ste rl ing ▶ Wishon makes every iron the length of an 8-iron so your swing from club to club is simpler. Thin, high-strength steel faces help the long irons retain their distances despite the shorter lengths. price $925 to ur e d g e h ot l au n ch 2 ▶ Yes, a deep undercut cavity and thin face push weight to the perimeter and sole for forgiveness and high launch. But compact short irons with less offset offer precise shotmaking. p ri ce $400

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The Total Package Why sacrifice control or distance when you can have both?

Photograph by Nick Ferrari

oday every new iron is a game-improvement iron. Each new model offers technology that helps your shots launch higher or your mis-hits land tighter—or both. But now those game-improvement features tend to change with each iron in the same set: Long irons are designed for distance, for example, and short irons for control. (So think about testing more than just the 6- or 7-iron when you’re shopping for a new set.) And game-improvement isn’t just for hacks. Nearly two-thirds of the players on the PGA Tour play an iron that’s not a traditional muscle-back blade.

That’s why true game-improvement in an iron goes beyond extra distance. It can mean a club that launches the ball more easily, spins your shots more consistently from the rough or glides through the turf more smoothly. Here are six irons that might just make you better than you used to be.

T

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edited by ron kaspriske

the core

training with D.J. His golf game is at an all-time high, and so is his fitness by ron kaspriske

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september 2016 | golf digest india

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TiTle Code: HAReNG00969 mAy 2016 `150

Volume 1 issue 1

Want to copy a piece of Johnson’s workout? Try the medicine-ball throw.

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

ustin Johnson is a freak—in a good way.

Whether you hand him a golf club, bowling ball or jai alai cesta, it won’t take him long to figure out how to use it, and use it well.

We remind you of this because Johnson’s typical fitness routine isn’t necessarily something you should copy. Yep, it’s a little freakish, too. The kind of workout only a world-class athlete like Johnson does. Earlier this year, Johnson told his longtime fitness advisor and friend, Joey Diovisalvi, that he wanted to ramp up their workout sessions.

D

Johnson wanted to see how strong he could get and to fully commit to winning major championships—plural, not singular, Diovisalvi recalls of their conversation. So here’s an overview of what they’re doing: Three days a week they focus on power training. Then they transition to what Diovisalvi calls “neurological training,” making Johnson consciously activate and feel specific muscles. They finish the week with an oxymoron: an “active rest” day.

“I call it active rest, because he refuses to take a day off,” Diovisalvi says. “So it’s a day where he’ll get on the bike and ride a little, do some light exercises, golf-specific movements and then head to the course.”

Sometimes Johnson works out twice a day, and occasionally, just to add a little competition to his fitness routine, he’ll race Diovisalvi by bike along the Palm Beach County coastline.

Ten miles up, 10 miles back.

Total all that time, and you get 15 hours of vigorous exercise every week. That’s more than double what Johnson used to do, he says, and he can’t help but think it’s part of the reason D.J. won the U.S. Open in June.

“I’ve been working out harder. I told Joey I wanted to go every day,” Johnson says. “I look at it this way. I want to be stronger and be able to swing the way I swing without worrying about getting hurt.”

Monday through Wednesday, when Johnson is training for power, he performs Olympicstyle exercises such as deadlifts, rows and cleans. The focus is on strengthening muscle groups on the front and back of the body from his thighs up to his shoul-

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs 90 golf digest india | september 2016

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

ders, especially to strengthen the body while working from a hip-hinged posture (just like a golf posture). “No surprise, he learned to do these exercises flawlessly pretty quickly,” Diovisalvi says. “He starts light and keeps progressing to heavier and heavier weights.”

In case you’re wondering, Johnson, who is 6-4 and 190 pounds, has no problem deadlifting 315 pounds.

Thursday through Saturday the two transition to “muscle awareness” exercises, many of which have Johnson off his feet.

He also performs exercises on one foot, or with his eyes closed, or both. The purpose is to concentrate on feeling a specific muscle contracting, such as a glute or an abductor or the deeper muscles of the body like those that protect the spinal column.

He also does exercises where he has to resist gravity or external loads. Resistance training is believed to help him decelerate his powerful swing safely.

Johnson also does a lot of work throwing medicine balls that weigh 12 to 16 pounds. A favorite exercise is to take a ball and mimic his backswing. He’ll laterally step and then slam the ball down in that direction.

“That’s one I’d recommend anyone can do with a lighter ball.

Just remember to throw in both directions,” Diovisalvi says.

All of this strenuous work might have you wondering if

he’s overtraining. Could it lead to injuries to a body that already has to absorb the energy created by swinging his driver 125 miles per hour? The lower part of Johnson’s spine is an area of concern because of the torsion it endures.

Diovisalvi laughs at the idea of Johnson overtraining, asking if anyone would ever accuse gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps or an NFL running back of spending too much time working out. He says he pays a lot of attention to protecting Johnson’s spine and joints, especially his left wrist, which famously bows in his backswing—a stressful position to maintain with a hard swing.

“I even built a special device from PVC pipe and medical tape that lets him strengthen his grip and muscles around that wrist,” Diovisalvi says.

So besides that U.S. Open trophy and his other recent successful performances, what are the results of D.J.’s hard work?

“I’d say he’s increased his clubhead speed by 2 mph and his smash factor by 5 percent,” Diovisalvi says. “He’s longer than ever and hitting more fairways and greens. That’s a pretty good combination.”

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

sociaL star paiGe spiranac Leads the innoVators and inFLUencers oF 2016

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

tête-à-tête

exclusive official media Partner Photographs by JohniNdiA Loomis

what’s in My Bag Play Your Best What yardage book? I don’t carry a yardage book. I trust my caddie on yardages. He gets it wrong only a couple times per round.

National pride I’m a patriotic guy, so I mark my Srixon Z-Star XV with a shamrock. I go through five a round but only because I toss them to kids.

shane lowry age 29 lives Clara, Ireland.

life-changing win It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since I won the Irish open as an amateur.

It was a dream come true for sure and a real life-changer.

The two-year exemption let me figure out what it takes to play against the best golfers in the world. bring it on I prefer tough courses like at the U.s. open.

It’s where I feel most comfortable. I like when you shoot one under par and feel like that was a really good score.

—with e. michael johnson club

yards*

drIver specs TaylorMade M2, 9.5˚, 45 inches, Aldila Rogue 65X shaft, D-3 swingweight a recent addition. I had a driver for six years, but this just busts it out there. It’s also forgiving, so I feel like I can really go after it.

Irons specs Srixon Z 545, 3- through 5-irons; Srixon Z 745, 6through 9-irons, KBS Tour 130X shafts, D-4 swingweight, Golf Pride Tour Velvet 58R upside down grips I adopted this split set at the start of 2015. It delivers a consistency and forgiveness I’ve never had.

driver

295

3-wood

260

5-wood

240

3-iron

225

4-iron

215

5-iron

205

6-iron

192

wedges

7-iron

180

8-iron

165

specs Cleveland RTX-3, (47˚, 51˚, 58˚), KBS Tour Custom shafts

9-iron

150

pw

135

gw

120

lw

100

*carry distance

I put these in the bag after just one day of practice at the wgC-Bridgestone.

I did nothing with the grinds. They were perfect right off the truck.

faIrway woods specs Callaway Big Bertha V Series, 15˚, 43 inches, Aldila RIP 80X shaft, D-3 swingweight; Srixon Z-TX, 18˚, 41.5 inches, Aldila RIP 80X shaft, D-3 swingweight Both fairway woods have been in my bag for years. a good fairway wood is the hardest thing to find. My 5-wood is a strong club that I can easily pitch 240 yards.

pUTTer specs Odyssey White Ice 2-Ball Blade, 3.5˚, 35 inches, 71˚lie angle I picked up this putter in abu dhabi in 2010. It’s been in and out of the bag, but it’s here to stay for a while. all of my best finishes have come with it. equipment: J.D. Cuban • lowry: riCharD heathCote/Getty imaGes

story won 2015 wgC-Bridgestone Invitational. runner-up at 2016 U.s. open.

Case for the coin This ball marker means a lot to me.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose it, so I use this ring case to keep it from getting lost inside my bag.

try to unlock your putting with a simpler approach

▶ All week at the U.S. Open at CordeValle—where I just won my first major—I was working on two things with my putting: staying down and fully committing to every putt. Reading the putt on 16 during the final round, tied for the lead, my brother, Luke, and I picked a line we liked: a ball out left.

I committed to that line completely, and just let it roll. That mind-set helped me drop the putt and take the lead.

I’m never mechanical with my putting when I play. It’s just this ball in that hole. But your putting has to be grounded in some mechanics. I’ve worked with Dave Stockton, and he’s big on the left hand (for righties with a traditional grip) being the aim hand. So the left hand is super important to me. I like to hit practice putts left-handonly, isolating the feeling of the left hand in control. My putting grip is left index finger over right pinkie, which gives me the feeling of the back of my left hand going to the hole. Where the left

every b y b r i t ta n y l a n g

u.s. women’s open champion

92 golf digest india | september 2016

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

o make hand goes is where the ball goes.

I also like the stroke being equal on both sides (photos).

I don’t want to take the putter back short and make a long through-stroke, or go back too far and have to decel coming through. Here’s a drill I like to work on when I practice. Put a tee just outside the toe of the putter at address, then stick a second tee a few inches behind it (on the backstroke side) and another a few inches in front (through-stroke side). Hit some short putts, making sure the putterhead doesn’t go past either tee during the stroke.

Groove that feeling of the same distance back and through.

The last mechanical key I’ll give you is acceleration. If you’re not accelerating the putterhead through the ball, you’re not a good putter. When I feel like I’m not accelerating, I’ll go to the practice green and work on taking it back short and exaggerating the motion through the ball. I’ll putt a bunch of three-footers focusing only on

acceleration. When I play, I still want equal parts backstroke and through-stroke, but I never want to lose sight of accelerating the club through the ball.

In the end, you have to figure out your best putting style. Practice putting with one ball, and identify the speed you’re most comfortable with. Putt from various distances and breaks.

Do you like to have the ball die at the hole? (That works best for me.) Or are you better hitting it with some speed? Once you find out how you like to putt, you’ll develop a feel for distance and start to see break better.

The point I want to leave you with is, the best putters don’t always have the best mechanics. I see too many amateurs trying to copy other putters, trying to imitate what they see on TV. The great ones know what works for them, and they believe they’re going to make putts. Period. If you get yourself thinking that way, you’re going to be a better putter.

thing —with keely levins

brittany lang, 30, won the U.S. Women’s Open in a playoff against Anna Nordqvist. Lang ranks seventh on the LPGA Tour in putts per green in regulation. + ANTIGUA shirt, $65, skort, $65 FOOTJOY shoes, $140 TITLEIST visor, $22

5 big misses &how to fix them by hank haney

▶ If you want to play better golf and lower your handicap, you need a plan. A goal without a plan is just a dream, and that’s where most people end up with their games. They’re dreaming. ▶ Instead, how about taking action and figuring out what it’s going to take to improve? That process starts with identifying your biggest miss— the one that causes the worst problems round after round. Unless you address that issue now, you’re going to be pretty much the same golfer next summer as you are today. ▶ Here we’re going to talk about five of the common big misses in golf, and what you can do to overcome each of them. Fix your big miss and stay out of trouble, and your scores will drop fast. —with matthew rudy

1

miss the dreaded shank fix maintain your distance from the ball First, let’s blow up the major misconception about the shot that goes flying low and right. It isn’t because you hit the ball off the toe. A shank comes from the opposite problem: hitting off the hosel. It can happen for a few reasons. The most common one is when you’re too close to the ball, whether you start out that way or you fall toward the ball on the downswing.

You also could be swinging too much around your body in the backswing, which can make you swing outward too much on the downswing, exposing the hosel to the ball.

Two quick fixes: First, check that you stay in your address posture as you swing through by using your shadow. Set up so your shadow is easy to spot and take some swings, making sure you aren’t getting closer to the ball with your body or head as you swing. Second, put a headcover just outside the ball and hit shots without bumping the headcover. These drills will show you instantly that you’re doing the right (or wrong) thing.

94 golf digest india | september 2016

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

‘in pitching, if your hands r ace ahe ad on t

3

miss the fat iron shot fix find out if you’re steep or shallow Fat shots can be tough to diagnose because they can happen from a steep angle of attack (smashing into the ground) or a very shallow one (hitting the ground too early).

If you tend to take big divots, practice holding the clubhead off the ground and making swings like you would to hit a baseball or a golf shot off a very high tee. That will promote a more around-the-body versus up-and-down swing.

If you tend to hit fat shots with a shallow angle of attack— a common mistake with longer clubs like hybrids and fairway woods—it’s happening because the bottom of your swing is behind the ball. To fix this, focus on shifting to your front foot as you start the downswing (below) and swinging all the way around so your chest is facing the target at the finish. The bottom of your swing arc will move forward, and your swing direction will be more toward the target than inside-out.

2

miss the big driver slice fix swing the arms faster than the hips Drivers cause the biggest misses, literally and figuratively.

It’s the club that goes the farthest and has the least loft, so it produces the biggest curves. And failing to get off the tee causes the worst problems with scoring because you’re playing catch-up the rest of the hole.

Slicing is the common miss for average players, and it happens because at impact the face is open relative to the path of the swing. The fastest way to change that is to feel like your body is slowing down through impact while you speed up the release of the clubhead with your hands and arms. This will get the face closing like it is in this photograph (above).

If you’re fighting the opposite problem—a hook—apply the opposite fix. To keep the clubface from closing so much through impact, feel like your body is rotating faster into the follow-through. Another good thought is to speed up your lead arm through impact. That’ll help hold the face more open.

96 golf digest india | september 2016

the d ownswing, you’ll struggle to make go od contact.’

5

miss the putting yips fix experiment with grips—and gripping Numbers don’t lie. For more than 10 years, we tested thousands of players in my schools and found that 26 percent had some kind of yip problem in their putting. They weren’t in full control of the putterface or acceleration through impact.

In most cases, it’s something relatively easy to handle. The yip problem often comes in one hand or the other on the grip.

Simply changing how that hand holds the club—by moving to a claw grip, for example (below)—can often solve the problem.

There are variations on the claw, and the right one for you is the one that reduces the yip and gives you the best feel.

You also might try replacing the grip on your putter with a fatter one, which gives a different feel in your hands and reduces hand action through the putt. You see them all over the PGA Tour—and it isn’t because those guys have big hands. Point is, don’t be afraid to change things up.

4

miss inconsistent pitching fix use the bounce on your sand wedge Consistency and forgiveness are the two most important factors you want to have in your greenside game. If you can hit the same shot every time, you’ll get great at controlling your distance. And if you use the club the way it was designed, the bounce on the bottom of the clubhead will help you with forgiveness. It’ll slide through the grass and help you produce a good shot even when you don’t make perfect contact.

On pitch shots, the sand wedge is usually your best choice.

It has plenty of loft and forgiveness built right in. To make the bounce work, open the face slightly at address. Set your weight equally between your feet, and don’t artificially narrow your stance—that moves your center forward and promotes a steep swing. Instead, make a downswing that feels as if you’re throwing the club so the head and the shaft get to the ball at the same time. If your hands get way ahead, the club’s leading edge will dig, and you’ll struggle to make solid contact.

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gutter credit tk

What Really happened dustin johnson, the usga and the u.s. open fiasco the stoRy behind a muRky neW Rule, the chaos cReated by applying it, and Why it might be changed again gutter credit tk

by jaime diaz

Photograph

by First Photo illustration

by Lastname Eddie Guy

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moved a couple of dimples. But it started a runaway train of dissent that has yet to stop.

With the 116th U.S. Open at Oakmont on the line in the final round, United States Golf Association rules officials tried to follow their heads—with a devotion to the letter of a new rule—and their hearts, extending a complicating courtesy to Dustin Johnson.

When it comes to the Rules of Golf, the two don’t mix, and the USGA made, as executive director Mike Davis admitted, in a contrite postmortem, “a big bogey.”

As the USGA said in its day-after statement: “Upon reflection, we regret the distraction caused by our decision to wait until the end of the round to decide on the ruling. It is normal for rulings based on video evidence to await the end of a round, when the matter can be discussed with the player before the scorecard is returned. While our focus on getting the ruling correct was appropriate, we created uncertainty about where players stood on the leader board . . . ” 100 golf digest india | september 2016

a Perfect storm

A

t Oakmont, the blowback was extreme after the world’s toughest championship was hit by a perfect storm of circumstances. In the way of moments that live long in history, all sorts of elements had to coalesce: ▶ The super-fast greens at Oakmont, where Sam Snead in the early 1950s cracked that even coins slid downhill, were running about 15 on the Stimpmeter this year. ▶ A late-afternoon setting in which uneven tufts of growing Poa annua could leave balls precariously perched on the greens. ▶ A difficult rules situation involving Johnson, the fourth-round leader, which made post-round video review—standard procedure in another round or with a non-contender—problematic. ▶ An eerily similar ruling earlier in the day

PRevioUs PaGes: FReD vUiCH/Getty imaGes • tHis PaGe: KeyUR KHamaR/PGa toUR/Getty imaGes

thE bAll

Johnson won by three shots, even with a penalty stroke the court of public opinion didn’t think he deserved, so technically the gaffe did not affect the outcome. But contemplating the possibilities of what could have happened—Johnson winning by one, only to be penalized and forced into a playoff, or worse, tying but really losing—induces a shudder. As the laconic champion comically understated, “That would have been bad.”

Even with no change in the finish, no past rules decision—not Jackie Pung’s loss of the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open because of a scorecard error, Robert De Vicenzo losing a chance at a Masters playoff on another scoring error, Johnson’s penalty in a difficult-to-discern bunker at Whistling Straits in the 2010 PGA Championship, or even the denial of Casey Martin’s cart—ever created such a furor.

According to a USGA spokesperson, more than 10,000 letters, emails, texts and phone calls were sent or made to the association within three days of Johnson’s victory, some of them nasty and even threatening.

Of course, to most non-purists, the Rules of Golf are the refuge of lost-in-the-weeds wonks whose decisions too often contradict common sense. But to the dedicated few who uphold the rules, they are sacred pillars of the game.

◀

Johnson, with Jack Nicklaus and the USGA’s Mike Davis to his left, awaits the trophy after accepting the penalty.

that produced no penalty, setting up a contrast that brought home an untested rule’s subjective criteria. ▶ Johnson is a player who takes his putting practice strokes very close to the ball—so close one multiple major champion says he has “cringed” when seeing the strokes and Johnson grounding the toe of his putter to the side of the ball. ▶ A referee in Johnson’s group—the chairman of the Rules of Golf Committee, no less—issued an initial ruling on the fifth green that no rules violation had occurred, based on a conversation with Johnson and Lee Westwood, paired together, only to see the ruling overturned. ▶ A “strict” interpretation that deemed as “instantaneous” the roughly two seconds from the time Johnson’s putter was grounded next to (but not behind) the ball to when the ball moved. ▶ The extended time required for an initial video review of the incident by three USGA officials, in which six competitive holes were played before Johnson was finally informed on the 12th tee that he might be penalized. (In the three-hole playoff for the U.S. Women’s Open in July, officials did not inform Anna Nordqvist of a two-stroke penalty she incurred on the second playoff hole for touching the sand in a bunker until after her third shot on the third playoff hole, but before opponent, Brittany Lang, with whom she had been tied, hit her third shot.) ▶ A well-meaning but misjudged decision to delay a final ruling until Johnson could view the video after the round. ▶ Questions about how involved two of the four members of the championship’s rules committee were in the final ruling. ▶ Davis, the executive director, being conspicuous by his absence during the decision to postpone the final ruling, and in the postround explanation of the ruling.

healthy swipes. More tellingly, not one tour pro publicly defended the ruling.

In the process, several players betrayed an ignorance of the current rule on which the decision was based. But even given that, what most bothered the players was the USGA’s presumed insensitivity to the extra stress being put in scoring limbo would exert on a player already in the most pressurized situation in golf.

As 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson tweeted, Telling a golfer mid-round (!) about a potential 1 shot penalty would cause most about 4 shots in anxiety. But it wasn’t just contemporary players. Said Gary Player, “How can the USGA let a circumstance like the one Dustin faced linger throughout almost a whole round? Unfair added pressure, especially after facing a similar controversy in 2010. No player deserves to go through that kind of turmoil.” Concluded Jack Nicklaus, “You either have [a penalty] or you don’t have one. I think it’s very unfair to the player.”

Perhaps most damning was the perspective of Westwood. “The whole thing was handled very badly,” said Westwood, who shot 80 in the fourth round to finish T-32.

“I don’t think anyone should be treated the way Dustin was. There was nobody willing to make a decision. And what they eventually

‘All thE rulEs officiAls i know think Dustin brokE thE rulE, but nonE of my friEnDs who i plAy golf with think hE DiD.’ —former pga tour and usga official david eger

did, they got wrong. . . . I’m not sure what they would have done if it had mattered.”

KeY chaNGes iN the rUle

t

he importance of the disparate elements of the entire episode will all be debated. But the prime mover was the language of the current Rule 18-2, “Ball at Rest Moved.”

Moving balls on the green have long been perhaps the most vexing rules problem.

Since the 1800s until this year, the rule essentially stated that a ball that moves after a player has grounded a club in the address position invokes a penalty of one stroke.

Fast greens in high winds, upon which balls would move through no fault of the player, were the rule’s kryptonite. Nicklaus, to avoid such a penalty, made sure never to ground his putter at address if he thought the ball had a chance to move.

In 2012, an exception to the rule was added in which a player who had addressed his ball would not be penalized when wind and/or gravity made it “virtually certain the player did not cause the ball to move.”

Because that change was well-received, the rule was rewritten to get rid of the grounded club as a main trigger for penalty and simply ask one question: Did the player cause the ball to move? The change took effect Jan. 1 of this year and allows for any and all actions that could have caused the ball to move in an individual case to be reviewed.

Here’s the key language: “If the weight of evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the player caused the ball to move, even though that conclusion is not free from doubt, the player incurs a onestroke penalty under Rule 18-2 and the ball must be replaced.”

As the USGA officials would explain, “more likely than not” means that as little as 51 percent of the weight of the evidence is required to penalize a player, even though such a decision would not be free from doubt. The terms contrast sharply with the standards of “beyond a reasonable doubt” to prove guilt in a criminal case, or “indisputable video evidence” to overturn a call on the

the wrath of social media

DaviD Cannon/Getty imaGes

E

xacerbating the entire mess was a realtime, social-media free-for-all in which top players led the way in blasting the USGA. Perhaps they were primed to vent after playing in the championship that tests them most arduously, but regardless, the vote from that demographic was pretty much unanimous. Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Tiger Woods all took ▶

The ruling of no penalty by Mark Newell, the official walking with Johnson, was reversed. september 2016 | golf digest india

101

field in the NFL. Though the difference is nuanced, “more likely than not” doesn’t sound as strong as “the preponderance of evidence” needed to win a civil trial.

Furthermore, Johnson was hurt by a rule that was revised to help players who were grounding their putters while addressing the ball. He had not done so while incurring his penalty at Oakmont.

THE CASE OF ROMAIN WATTEL

F

irst, in the 10:20 a.m. starting time, Romain Wattel of France faced a sharply downhill putt of two feet for par on Oakmont’s second green. After grounding his putter while addressing his ball for some five seconds as he looked at the hole, Wattel looked down and determined his ball had moved. He had not actually seen his ball move but noticed that the line on the ball he uses for alignment had changed position.

The referee in the group, respected rules authority Dr. Lew Blakey, ruled that Wattel had not caused the ball to move. Blakey based his decision on the relatively long amount of time that elapsed from the time Wattel grounded his club to the time that the player detected it had moved, the downslope the ball rested on, and a slight bit of wind. After Wattel played on, the ruling was reviewed

by USGA officials via video and accepted as the correct ruling. Says one longtime rules official: “I was surprised there wasn’t a gathering of [officials] after the Wattel ruling. Once the ruling was made by Lew and confirmed, that they would have said, ‘This is U.S. Open Sunday, and this is the road map for the rest of the round.’ ” Shortly before 5 p.m., Johnson, playing with Westwood in the second-to-last group of the day, faced a slightly uphill four-footer for par on the fifth hole. After taking two practice swings within a couple of inches of the ball, he lightly grounded the toe of his club near the ball and then raised it behind the ball but did not place the club on the ground behind the ball. The time between the putter last touching the ground and the ball moving—ever-soslightly backward—was about two seconds.

Johnson quickly stood up and stepped away from the ball, noting that it had moved, and called in referee Mark Newell. The other referee with the group, Stu Francis, chair of the championship committee, did not engage in the conversation with Johnson.

Johnson told Newell he had not caused the ball to move, emphasizing that he had not addressed and grounded his club, a position with which Westwood voiced agreement. On the telecast, Newell asked Johnson, “OK, you hadn’t grounded the club or anything—it just moved?” When Johnson said he hadn’t, Newell instructed him to play on with no penalty. Johnson said, “Thank you,” re-marked, and made his par putt.

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Though most things having to do with the Johnson ruling moved too slowly, his encounter with Newell might have gone too fast. Watching on television, David Eger, a former rules official for the USGA and the PGA Tour before becoming a winner on the PGA Tour Champions, thought Johnson should have been asked to recount more of his actions while he was near the ball.

A later description from Westwood is detailed. “It all started when I asked Dustin to move his marker off my line,” Westwood said the week after the championship. “He did so, and after I missed my putt, he put his marker back and replaced his ball. I went to the edge of the green and watched him take his practice swings to the side of the ball. As he went to put his putter behind the ball, it moved very slightly. I could see that it had because the line on top wasn’t quite straight as it had been when he started his routine. The ball had actually rolled back, away from the hole.

“Dustin actually called it on himself before I said or did anything,” Westwood said.

“But I knew his putter had not been behind the ball when it moved. As far as I was concerned, he had not caused it to move. He certainly hadn’t touched it.

“To be fair, the ball was sitting on a slight upslope, which is why it moved backward,” Westwood said. “Anyway, Dustin called in the referee, who asked if he could think of any way in which he could have caused the ball to move. Dustin said he couldn’t. I agreed with him, and the referee said play on. That was really the end of it as far as I was concerned.”

Soon after Johnson and Westwood teed off on the sixth hole, a USGA official assigned to video review, Craig Winter, the assistant director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Sta-

‘You could get 10 rules experts and show them video evidence . . . i guarantee some would saY wattel deserved a penaltY and Johnson didn’t, or that neither deserved a penaltY, or that both did.’

—former usga executive director david fay

tus, studied the replay from a nearby location and texted his boss, Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Status, with concerns that Johnson might have caused his ball to move. Winter also texted Jeff Hall, managing director of Rules and Competitions. Pagel was walking with the last group of Shane Lowry and Andrew Landry, not as a referee but as a roving official. Hall was also on the course as a rover. The two took carts through the course to meet Winter and watch the video.

Hall said that by the time he and Pagel had the chance to see the video, Johnson was playing the ninth hole. Hall and Pagel agreed that the weight of the visual evidence suggested Johnson had broken Rule 18-2 on the fifth hole. They then took a cart to inform Johnson that he might incur a one-stroke penalty. When they reached Johnson, he was playing the 11th hole. After he putted out, they approached him on the 12th tee.

The video evidence superseded what Newell had determined. Although Rule 34-2 states “a referee’s decision is final,” Rule 34-3 states the rules committee’s decision is final.

At Oakmont, the rules committee was made up of Pagel, Hall, Newell and Francis. As Pagel later said, “We had evidence. We saw it.

We had to act on it.” The Notice to Players sheet handed out to each competitor stated that “final decisions on any disputed points will be made by” those committee members.

According to the USGA, all four men did see the video before the final ruling was issued.

But it would not confirm how involved Newell, whose initial ruling was overruled, and Francis were in the final decision.

Pagel and Hall made their assessment based on three elements: the player’s actions (Johnson’s practice-stroke routine), his distance from the ball when he made them (close, with the nose of the putter later touching ground) and the time between the end of those actions and when the ball moved (about two seconds). It added up to their opinion and eventual final determination that “more likely than not,” Johnson had caused the ball to move.

According to Westwood, unlike Newell, Hall and Pagel did not ask for his version of what happened on the fifth green. “They asked Dustin and his caddie to step aside and told them they thought there might have been an infringement,” Westwood said. “I listened in. They didn’t ask for any input from me. I thought that was strange. I was a bit disappointed, really. I was Dustin’s playing partner. I was marking his card. I had been asked for my opinion on the fifth green. Yet they didn’t ask me anything, even though I was right there.”

Hall and Pagel’s conversation with Johnson, coming in the midst of the competition, was not conclusive. “We told him what we

saw was a concern, but we also asked him a couple of questions,” Hall said. “Was there something else that could have caused the ball to move?”

Johnson remained firm that he had done nothing to move the ball, reiterating that he had not grounded his club while addressing the ball. “And that was the case,” said Hall, crucially adding, “but he did ground the putter proximate to the ball.”

When asked at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational to recount the events of Oakmont, Johnson seemed to betray some confusion in his explanation of his understanding of the rule. “I know if I cause the ball to move, it’s a penalty,” he said. “And I know the rule where if your club’s behind the ball, but it’s not soled on the ground and it happens to move, then it’s not a penalty. And then they changed it where if the putter’s on the ground behind the ball, but the wind causes it to move, it’s not a penalty anymore.”

Actually, it was an accurate description of the rule before Jan. 1 of this year. But when asked if he was aware at the time he talked to officials on Sunday at Oakmont of the new language, Johnson says he was: “I know what they were saying. I still didn’t agree with them. But at that point, I just wanted to get it over with. For them to just do what you need to do, and let’s go.”

Hall and Pagel hesitated. “We had an opportunity and an obligation, we felt, to explain the rule,” Hall said, “and doing that in the middle of the 12th tee just didn’t seem like an appropriate time.”

This was the error that the USGA statement said was crucial. Rather than calling the penalty at that moment, officials decided that Johnson deserved to see the video, out of courtesy. There was also Hall’s view, a technical one given that he had strongly hinted at a breach, that no decision had been made: “When we had a discussion with Dustin,” he said, “we certainly didn’t know what the outcome was going to be.”

Added Pagel: “We just wanted [Johnson] to realize that we were concerned, and we wanted to make him aware of that so that he could strategically make decisions that he needed to make for the balance of the round, and that based on the conversation as it evolved, we said, ‘We’ll show it to you when you come in. We’d like you to have the benefit of what we have, of what we’ve seen,’ so that hopefully he could get more comfortable with that situation. . . . It was clear we needed a further conversation, and the 12th tee did not seem the right place for that.”

Johnson probably could have forced a decision by insisting on getting a ruling then and there. Another player might have done just that. McIlroy had tweeted, If it was me I wouldn’t hit another shot until this farce was rectified. Woods said at a press confer-

‘there was nobodY willing to make a decision. and what theY eventuallY did, theY got wrong.’

—lee west wood, paired with dustin johnson

ence before his tournament, “I’m a little more feisty than Dustin.” And Spieth added this: “I’ve grounded a putter before the rule where it was a penalty, even though I didn’t touch the ball, but my putter rested behind it, and then after the rule change I’ve had it to where, yes, it was a gust of wind on fast greens that moved the ball off of where it was located and it wasn’t a penalty, and then I’ve had quite a few occasions where something else caused the ball to move even though I had taken my practice strokes just like Dustin did but I had not put my putter behind the ball but it moved when I was taking practice strokes, and I’ve never seen it called a penalty. . . . As far as the guys that I’ve talked to, no one has ever had an incident like that called a penalty.”

Johnson would later say that the rules issue didn’t weigh on him as he played on. “I just told myself, We’ll worry about it when we get done,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to be penalized. They said they were going to review. There was nothing I could do about it. Just focus on this next shot. I tried to do that from there, all the way to the house. It was just me and the golf course.” After his discussion with Hall and Pagel ended, Johnson hit his tee shot on the 12th more than 350 yards down the fairway.

Whether Johnson should have been penalized will join other famous ruling debates like Arnold Palmer’s right to a “second ball” on the 12th hole at the 1958 Masters, or whether Woods should have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard after a bad drop on the 15th hole at the 2013 Masters.

A key point of reference will be the Wattel ruling. Blakey, the referee, had considered the five seconds Wattel’s ball presumably didn’t move after he had grounded his club in the address position enough time to absolve the Frenchman from being the cause of the movement, but Pagel would characterize the two seconds that passed after Johnson soled the toe of his putter next to the side of his ball as “instantaneous” and thus damning.

Eger believes the right call was made based on the rule as written but admits his experience writing, interpreting and admin-

istering the rules gives him an uncommon perspective. “All the rules officials I know think Dustin broke the rule, but none of my friends who I play golf with think he did.

None of my friends have all the information. They use the wrong criteria to judge.

But the rules are so fastidious, precise and often complicated.”

But David Fay, the USGA’s executive director for two decades, who served as the Fox telecast’s rules expert, contends the Johnson ruling was a close one even for officials. “You could get 10 rules experts and show them video evidence of Wattel’s and Johnson’s actions around the ball. I guarantee some would say Wattel deserved a penalty and Johnson didn’t, or that neither deserved a penalty, or that both did.”

Although Hall and Pagel said they were “comfortable” with their determination, they knew they would be overruling another referee and contradicting two players. It was by definition a close call, and perhaps the finality of imposing such a decision on the U.S. Open leader in the last round contributed to their delay. As Davis acknowledges, if Johnson had been assessed the penalty on the 12th tee, “that would not have gone over well.”

The decision to delay a final ruling until the end of the round put the championship in limbo. Pagel had to notify the other players in contention, which he did by the time Johnson had parred the par-5 12th, that the leader “might” receive a penalty.

Who knows what the effect was. Shane Lowry initially said it didn’t bother him, but he lost strokes the rest of the way and later said he played the last three holes thinking he was two behind, when he would have trailed by only one if the penalty had been called earlier. Scott Piercy and Sergio Garcia also fell back, though they denied it was because they were distracted by the confusion over Johnson’s score.

Ironically, the man who’d had a history of failing to finish off majors, Johnson, closed as coolly as anyone ever has. After his climactic closing birdie, Johnson was brought into the scoring trailer by Davis. Johnson looked at the video with Hall and Pagel twice. Then he said, in his very D.J. way, “OK, whatever.

Let’s just get on with the prize presentation.”

The next week, Johnson alluded to the near disaster while speaking with CBS’ Jim Nantz: “If I would’ve won by only one shot, we might still be there.”

FIXING A FLAWED RULE

a

nd now the USGA must re-evaluate.

There’s no doubt that its rules procedures in competitive settings must be more efficient and decisive. Because it was the final round, once it was decided that new evidence must override the original referee’s call, a final ruling should have been

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Volume 1 issue 1

FUtUrists

made on the 12th tee, even if meant stopping play until Johnson’s input could be adequately obtained. In the future, perhaps officials should be equipped with tablet computers featuring large displays to show video.

In retrospect, executive director Mike Davis didn’t take charge at a time when an accountable leader was desperately needed Think Young | PlaY hard to speak for the organization. Hall and Pagel were too careful and scripted in their interviews on Fox and Golf Channel, neither in a position to provide the bigger-picture perspective that was needed. At Oakmont, the buck had no place to stop.

Whatever the procedural flaws, the events at Oakmont were also a reminder that administering the rules in real time, especially under the hot lights of a worldwide audience, isn’t easy. If Newell’s questioning of Johnson on the fifth was indeed rushed and incomplete, it might have led to Hall and Pagel not feeling they had enough detail from the player’s side to issue a fair decision.

Video can clarify, but it can also complicate. When no video exists, a player’s testimony can be defining. But when it does, it becomes the primary source of information.

And with an exact rendition of events comes a greater and perhaps unreasonable expectation to get a ruling—even if it is ultimately based on judgment—“exactly” right.

“When you’re answering questions of fact, when you’re weighing the evidence, those are the most challenging things you could ever do as a committee because you know there are going to be people that disagree with you,” Pagel said of the Johnson ruling. “But at the end of the day, we weighed the evidence, and we felt it was more likely than not, and we were comfortable with that, and we wanted to get it right.”

Though Pagel and Hall were comfortable with following the rule, the real problem was with the rule they were following. As Oakmont proved, newly revised Rule 18-2 is just not good enough. It allows too much room for interpretation and has too low a threshold for guilt. It was successful in eliminating a grounded club at address being an automatic trigger for a penalty if a ball at rest moves (although it’s arguable that the 2012 exception to account for high winds and gravity adequately refined the former rule). And the central issue to be determined—did the player cause the ball to move?—is the right one.

But in trying to solve a problem, the new rule created new situations that are arguably worse. The main one? When it comes to determining what made a ball move on the green short of touching it with the putter or the body, there is almost never anything close to proof that a player’s actions were the cause. “More likely than not” or “51 percent of the evidence” is a recipe for too many close calls.

‘We knoW We have a problem With the rule. . . . it’s better than it Was, but it’s not fixed.’

—usga executive director mike davis

That Pagel’s defense of the Johnson ruling came down to an unanswerable question—“If the player hadn’t been anywhere near the ball, would it have moved by itself?”—was an admission of weakness. In short, Rule 18-2 should go down as a nice try that mandates the USGA try harder.

“We know we have a problem with the rule,” Davis says. “It is absolutely being looked at—we’ve been talking about this for months. It’s better than it was, but it’s not fixed,” adding, “This just happened in a bad way. It happened to bring to light things that are very troublesome. And most troublesome on the putting green.”

At the Open Championship at Troon, four weeks after Oakmont, Davis weighed in one more time: “No one will ever know if Dustin caused the ball to move, but anyone who thinks the rule wasn’t applied correctly doesn’t know the rules. If we had not applied that penalty, we could never have lived with ourselves. But the issue is with the rule itself. It forces an official into the most difficult situation—adjudicating the weight of evidence. We will learn from it, and golf will learn from it. One of our major goals is to modernize and simplify the rules, not just for tournament play, for everyday play. And the game will benefit in the long run.”

Unless and until there’s a shift on green speeds, PGA Tour official Slugger White would love to see the rule amended again to allow for the replacement of a ball that moves for any reason without being touched. “Anytime after marking the ball on the putting green only,” says White, who says incidents of balls at rest moving were extremely rare when he played the tour on greens that ran nine or 10 on the Stimpmeter. “If the ball moves after that without the player touching it, put it back, no penalty, keep going.”

White uses a hypothetical inverse to make his case. “If a player hits his tee shot on a par 3 above the hole, marks his ball, and while he’s reading the putt a gust of wind comes up and the ball rolls in the hole, under the rules, that’s a 1. Well, I think the rule should change so it’s not a 1. The player should put the ball back and putt from where

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs 104 golf digest india | september 2016

it had originally been at rest. I know our people at the tour would agree with that change.

And it would be a simpler rule, which is what the USGA is going for.”

Said John Paramor, chief referee of the European Tour, after hearing White’s suggestion: “Oh, yes, I agree with it. I think you’ll see some movement with that.”

The other obvious suggestion is to slow down green speeds in major championships.

At the Constellation Senior Players Championship in June, Australia’s Peter Fowler reported that over four rounds at Philadelphia Cricket Club, the combination of high winds and “silly fast” greens caused six or seven occasions in which he or one of his playing partners saw their balls move as they were preparing to putt. Fowler said they never called in a rules officials, opting instead to play their balls from where they stopped rolling, with no penalty.

In the meantime, raise the threshold of evidence needed against the player. To actually assess a penalty, and especially to overrule a referee, the evidence should be at least close to the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Here’s why. Governing the infinitesimal movement of the golf ball is a slippery slope. Consider the act of marking a ball on the green. Can it really be put back exactly where it was? Or after putting it down, doesn’t the ball sometimes move almost imperceptibly into a depression?

Allowing more leeway for the movement of balls at rest could create an even slipperier slope for the smallest movements, but rules should err toward providing the player with the benefit of the doubt rather than toward trapping them. Johnson was indicted on what seemed to be an assumption of guilt that he could have only overcome with a convincing verbal argument. It seems that with the new rule, the player is carrying an excessive burden of proof.

On some level, Hall and Pagel might have sensed this. And perhaps they chose not to issue the penalty on the 12th tee because they—for all their outward determination to follow and defend the new rule—didn’t really believe in its fairness.

In trying to be fair, the USGA rewrote an unfair rule but made it worse. In trying to be fair, officials asked Dustin Johnson to wait for a ruling after his round but made the situation worse.

The next revision of the “Ball at Rest Moved” rule will have elements of unfairness.

But what’s vital is that it be easier to apply and understand, and that it pass the commonsense test. Because on this one, the USGA can’t afford to give life to old stereotypes.

Whatever it does next should have the force to stop a train.

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Grace edGinG closer to maiden major title

Branden Grace is confident he can get over the line in a Major Championship after putting in another impressive performance at the US PGA Championship.

The South African secured his fourth top five Major finish in the last seven and put himself in contention in the final round at Baltusrol Golf Club with four birdies before a bogey on the 16th stalled his momentum.

The seven-time European Tour winner finished at nine under - five shots behind winner Jimmy Walker - but feels he is getting closer to claiming one of golf's big four tournaments. “I feel I'm progressing pretty nicely," he said. "I think I'm getting more confident as the Majors go on. “When I tee it up now, I feel I can win a Major. If you are coming into a Major with that mindset, you know you are going to do well.

"It was a little bit tough. I was a little bit disappointed with The Open this year. I thought I played some decent golf but it wasn't one of those golf courses that really suited me. I couldn't get my eye around the place.

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India Digest On the European Tour

Clarke announces Torrance as Fifth Ryder Cup Vice Captain

Darren Clarke, the European Captain for The 2016 Ryder Cup, has named Sam Torrance as his fifth and final Vice Captain for the match against the United States at Hazeltine National in September.

The 62 year old Scotsman will bring not only a wealth of experience to Clarke’s backroom team – having played for Europe on eight consecutive occasions between 1981 and 1995 – he will also bring the knowledge of what it takes to be a winning captain in the biennial contest, having led Europe to victory at The Belfry in 2002.

It was also at the English venue that Torrance enjoyed his greatest Ryder Cup moment as a player when, in 1985, he holed his famous curling putt across the 18th green to beat Andy North and secure the winning point as Europe went on to record a 16 ½ - 11 ½ triumph.

The man who still holds the record number of European Tour appearances with 706, also knows what it takes to succeed in the Ryder Cup arena in the US, having been part of the team which won at Muirfield Village in 1987 – the 15-13 success representing Europe’s first triumph on American soil.

It will be Torrance’s third stint as a European Vice Captain, having first taken the role alongside Mark James at Brookline in 1999, before resurrecting the role two years ago as part of Paul McGinley’s backroom team at Gleneagles.

Torrance said: “It goes without saying that I am very proud to be part of the backroom team for The 2016 Ryder Cup. It is a tremendous honour and as soon as Darren asked me, I had no hesitation in saying yes.

“I have known Darren for many years and have great respect for him and all that he has achieved in the game. I think you can see in all the hard work and attention to detail he has put in already that he will be a great captain and he knows he can count on me to be of service to the team in any way I can.

108 golf digest india | september 2016

Ryder Cup Opportunity Knocks for Knox

Scotland once again provided the focal point for the Ryder Cup qualification race when the country hosted the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Match Play in August, the same week its leading player, Russell Knox, won in America.

Knox claimed a one-shot victory at the Travelers Championship to move into tenth position on the World Points List, just 6.6 points behind Matthew Fitzpatrick who currently occupies the final automatic position on the team.

With just three weeks remaining until the end of the year-long qualification campaign, Knox, who won the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai last November, became just the fourth Scot to break into the top 20 on the Official World Golf Ranking, after Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance and Colin Montgomerie.

He will now be hoping to follow the illustrious trio into the Ryder Cup arena next month, but back in Knox’s native Scotland, Fitzpatrick offered some glimpses of his match play prowess at Archerfield Links, as he edged closer to an automatic qualifying spot.

The two-time European Tour champion, who has his sights firmly set on becoming the youngest member of Clarke’s 12 man team to face the United States, defeated Ryder Cup vice-captain, Thomas Bjørn in the first round and then dispatched Englishman Matt Ford 6&5, before losing to Alejandro Cañizares 4&3 in an entertaining last 16 encounter. Fitzpatrick’s compatriot Chris Wood, the reigning BMW PGA Champion, also remains in the automatic qualifying spots, after reaching the last 32. Wood defeated Australian Brett Rumford 2&1, before a close-fought 2&1 loss to Daniel Brooks.

That means the nine players currently occupying the automatic spots remain unchanged, with just two more European Tour events – the D+D Real Czech Masters and Made in Denmark – left to go. Captain Clarke will then name his three picks on August 30.

On the European Tour India Digest

Portstewart to Host 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open T

he Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation will return to Northern Ireland next year after Portstewart Golf Club was confirmed as the host venue from July 6-9, 2017.

Founded in 1894 and long considered one of the country’s finest links courses, Portstewart will be staging a European Tour event for the first time when tournament host Rory McIlroy defends his title there next summer.

It will be the third time in six years that Ireland’s national Open has been held in the north, with Royal Portrush playing host in 2012 – when advanced tickets sold out for the first time in European Tour history – and Royal County Down taking over in 2015.

Fans can ensure they get to see the stars of the European Tour at

next year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation at Portstewart Golf Club via dubaidutyfreeirishopen.com, with tickets going on sale immediately.

Set on Ulster’s stunning Causeway Coast, Portstewart features three 18-hole layouts, with the Des Giffin-designed Strand Course – which will host the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open – considered the jewel in the crown.

Enhanced in 1986 on natural links land known as ‘Thistly Hollow’, the Strand Course has hosted numerous amateur tournaments including the 2014 Amateur Championship, which was won by Bradley Neil.

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India Digest On the European Tour

Great Wall cements Match Play victory

A

nthony Wall beat Alex Noren in the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Match Play final to win his second European Tour title a record 16 years and 204 days after his maiden victory.

The Englishman’s wait between titles is the longest in European Tour history, while the 431 events since his first triumph in South Africa surpasses the previous high of 276 set by Christy O’Connor Jnr. Wall overcame a sluggish start at Archerfield and eventually secured a oneup win over favourite Noren, who missed out on a Scottish double following his victory at Castle Stuart last month.

Wall, who finished as a runner-up seven times between victories, said: “It’s funny – the other one in 2000 felt like yesterday!

Noren was a combined 19 under par for the front nine over the first five rounds and made another flying start in the final.

110 golf digest india | september 2016

Both players got up and down for Birdie at the driveaBle 16th, and at the short 17th noren saw his Birdie effort lip out as wall kept his nose in front Wall drove into trees at the first and Noren took full advantage with a birdie from ten feet.

It was Noren, a five-time European Tour winner, who was wayward off the second tee as he pulled his effort into a forest down the left, having been forced to chip out backwards, he played a remarkable third to the green on the par five and sunk his putt for another birdie.

At two down Wall must have been expecting his long wait for a second trophy to continue, but he responded immediately with a winning birdie on the third and squared the contest with a gain at the long sixth as Noren paid for missing the fairway.

The 41 year old Wall cashed in again on the par five 11th to go one up with a birdie, and scrambled superbly from sand at the 12th and 14th to maintain his lead.

Both players got up and down for birdie at the driveable 16th, and at the short 17th Noren saw his birdie effort lip out as Wall kept his nose in front.

Wall made par at the long finishing hole, but Noren missed his birdie effort from 15 feet as he failed to force extra holes.

England's James Morrison won the third-place play-off 4 and 2 against compatriot Oliver Fisher after starting with a run of birdie, eagle, birdie to establish a lead he refused to relinquish.

On the European Tour India Digest

Record Season For Asian Contingent On European Tour

S

hih-chang Chan’s victory at the King’s Cup in July was not only significant for the Chinese Taipei player as his maiden European Tour victory, but is also set a new record for the highest number of Asian wins in a single season on the tour...

It took until March and S.S.P Chawrasia’s fine win on home soil at the Hero Indian Open for us to get our first Asian win of the season, with Jeunghun Wang, a man who was soon to make his presence felt on the European Tour, finishing tied second, alongside another Indian star in AnirbanLahiri.

Just over a month later in China, the highly promising Soomin Lee went wire-to-wire to win his maiden European Tour title in style at the Shenzhen International, in what was only his sixth European Tour appearance.

The South Korean’s win was the start of a special month for Asian golf, with Chinese star Li Haotong becoming the second Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil at the Volvo China Open a week later, thanks to a sublime eight under par final round 64.

Next it was Wang’s turn, having come so close in Delhi, to announce himself on the global stage with one of the most resilient performances of the season to date, on his debut at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco.

Wang birdied both holes of his playoff with Nacho Elvira to become the 24th different Asian player to win on the European Tour, and make it two wins for the season for South Korea.

Less than a month passed before we had our sixth Asian win of the season thanks to Ashun Wu’s second European Tour title in Austria at the Lyoness Open powered by SporthilfeCashback Card, before ThongchaiJaidee made it seven for the season and eight for his illustrious career by beating a strong field, which included Rory McIlroy, to the 100th Open de France title.

That victory matched the record set in 2015 of seven Asian victories in a single European Tour season but that record was soon to tumble as Chan marched to victory at the King’s Cup in Thailand to create history and emphasise the importance and success of the strengthening bonds between the European Tour and the Asian Tour.

Asian wins by season over the last 10 years on the European Tour: 2016– (8) – Chawrasia, Lee, Haotong, Wang x2, Wu, Jaidee, Chan 2015 – (7) – Lahiri x2, Aphibarnat, Wu, An, Aphibarnrat, Jaidee 2014 – (1) – Jaidee 2013 – (2) – Jeong, Aphibarnrat 2012 – (2) – Jaidee, JM Singh 2011 – (1) – S.S.P 2010 – (2) – Noh, YE Yang 2009 – (5) – Lin, Kang, Jaidee, Jaidee, Yang 2008 – (4) – S.S.P, Atwal, JM Singh, V Singh 2007 – (3) – Yang, Liang, Nirat 2006 – (4) – Wi, Mamat, JM Singh, JM Singh

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Volume issue 118 Holes with Shashi Shetty India1Digest

Think Young | PlaY hard

FUtUrists

Holes with Shashi Shetty

268 Best thinGs in GoLF

Founder & Chairman - All Cargo Logistics Title sponsor of the Indo American Professional Golf Association (IAPGA) Tour 2016

1

When did you start playing golf?

I started playing golf roughly 15 years ago and have been playing since

2

What do you love most about the game?

The opportunity to just be with nature, challenge yourself and be among good friends – what’s not to love!

3

Who forms your regular Fourball?

I have many friends with whom I play

4

Your dream Fourball?

Tiger Woods, Jason Day & Phil Mickelson

5

Your favourite Pro golfer?

The one and only Tiger Woods

6

Favourite golf course – In India & abroad?

Quite a few as I think each golf course has its own unique characteristics. To name some - Aamby Valley GC, Oxford GR , Kalhaar B&G, Prestige Golfshire & KGA. Also, I have heard great things about Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar and look to play there soon.

Overseas I think San Francisco has quite a few golf courses with great beauty

7 8

oUr First editors' choice awards

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView

The opporTuniTy To jusT be wiTh naTure, challenge yourself and be among good friends is whaT i love ssp chowrasia abouT The game

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer 10

How often do you get to play?

I try to squeeze in some time every week

Your thoughts on doing business on the golf course?

I personally don’t think any business happens while you play golf but its indeed a great way to meet interesting people, get to know them and business is an eventual outcome of such meetings as long as people see value in talking business but that comes later

11

Describe your most memorable experience on the course?

Two actually - Scoring an Eagle recently & avoiding a shot on my head!

The most scenic course you have played?

Spyglass Hill Golf Course at Pebble Beach is rated one of the toughest courses in the world, as it features 2 distinctly different kinds of terrain

12

What golf apparel/equipment brands do you lean towards?

Honma & Callaway

13

Your dream car?

Ferrari 250 Cabriolet Series II by Pininfarina & Mercedes Maybach S 600

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs 9

Do you use any golf apps on your phone?

No. I like to keep it old school and play the way nature intended

Total Number of pages (including cover pages) is 118 Monthly Magazine, RNI N0. HARENG/2016/66983

inside the ropes

14

Lowest handicap you have had?

18

15

On an average, how far do you drive the ball?

225 Yards

16

What is your Favourite holiday destination?

Maldives, African Safari & Cruises on the Baltic & Mediterranean seas are at the top of my list

17

What is your Favourite dish at your home course?

Too many to just name one

aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

tête-à-tête

sociaL star paiGe spiranac 19th hole drink?

Leads the innoVators18 andFavourite chilled beer after a hot day of golf is inFLUencers oF 2016Aalways welcome

exclusive official media Partner september 2016 | golf digest indiaiNdiA 116

Office Furniture

STANDING IS THE NEW SITTING

Height adjustable desks are new generation worktables that offer flexibility to users who sit glued to their work for more than eight hours. Flexible work life helps you to stay active throughout the day, allowing you to stay fit and healthy during desk work. Changing your work position makes working more effective and productive.

Now available online (Automatic and Manual) on store.featherlitefurniture.com

Now open at PS Continental, 1st Floor, 101, 83/ 2/ 1, Above Porsche, Topsia Road South, Kolkata. Mob: +91 98307 74009 FEATHERLITE COLLECTIONS: #16/A, Millers Road, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore - 560 052. | Tel: 080 4020 9631 | Email: sales@featherlitefurniture.com Ahmedabad | Ananthpur | Bhubaneshwar | Chandigarh | Chennai | Coimbatore | Davangere | Durgapur | Ernakulam | Goa | Guwahati | Hubli | Hyderabad | Imphal Indore | Jaipur | Kochi | Kolhapur | Kolkata | Kurnool | Ludhiana | Lucknow | Mangalore | Madurai | Mumbai | Mysore | Nagpur | Nellore | New Delhi | Noida | Patna Pune | Rajkot | Ranchi | Raipur | Salem | Secunderabad | Shimoga | Siliguri | Thiruvananthapuram Tinsukia | Tirupathi | Vadodra | Vijayawada | Vishakapatnam | Nepal Dealers enquiry solicited: +91 93428 27325 | nitinsrivastava@featherlitefurniture.com

www.featherlitefurniture.com

TiTle Code: HAReNG00969 mAy 2016 `150

Volume 1 issue 1

FUtUrists

Think Young | PlaY hard

268 Best thinGs in GoLF oUr First editors' choice awards

ricKie’s distance tips and dJ's FLop shot

india GoLF expo 2016 reView ssp chowrasia inside the ropes

a roBot naMed aFter tiGer

coUrses that GLow Lessons in VirtUaL reaLitY no More Lost BaLLs

aniL seoLeKar president, iGU

tête-à-tête sociaL star paiGe spiranac Leads the innoVators and inFLUencers oF 2016

exclusive official media Partner iNdiA

RNI N0. HARENG/2016/66983