Golf Digest India - December 2016

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

THINK YOUNG | PLAY HARD

JUNIOR SPECIAL

MEMORABLE NOVEMBER FOR INDIAN PROS

100 YEARS

OF LADIES AMATEUR GOLF

WONDER GIRL

ADITI ASHOK BECOMES FIRST INDIAN TO WIN ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR

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Contents 12/16

ArgentinA l AustrAliA l Chile l ChinA l CzeCh republiC l FinlAnd l FrAnCe l hong Kong l IndIa l indonesiA l irelAnd KoreA l MAlAysiA l MexiCo l Middle eAst l portugAl l russiA l south AFriCA l spAin l sweden l tAiwAn l thAilAnd Double Delight for Indian golfers SSP Chowrasia and Gaganjeet Bhullar Read more on Pg 26

India Digest 10

by rohit bhardwaj

Spotlight

Junior Special 34 Present Perfect, Future Uncertain Too much limelight & parental pressure can ruin the future careers of child prodigies

by robbie Greenfield

42 US College Golf – Is It For You? 43 Ultimate Golf Carnival

86

90

by bharath arvind

Aditi Finds ‘Mozo’ At Home

72

by smylie kaufman

76

Stick Any Bunker Shot How I handle every lie. by rickie fowler

20

Pictorial: Olympians Light Up The Night

22

Hero Challenge

24

Club Round Up Updates from courses across India

77

78

79

Hank Haney Get your swing on plane

80

Swing Sequence: Soren Kjeldsen An efficient, free-and-easy move to learn from

Tour Tips Hit more precise pitch shots.

Butch Harmon Three common mistakes for why you miss greens

82

Jack Nicklaus Let bunkers dictate your play

83

4 golf digest india | december 2016

Players in the News Update on Indian Golfers around the world

48

Business Of Golf Industry updates

50 52 54 56

57 60 62

Corporate Digest Mercedes World Final In conversation with B P Kumar Babu Volvo World Golf Challenge In conversation with C Sasidhar Women’s Golf 100 Years Of Ladies Amateur Golf DGC Celebrates Women’s Golf by vineet mann Tête-à-Tête with Pradeep Jain by vineet mann

The Golf Life

by lydia ko

by bob carney

26

by rohit bhardwaj

Play Your Best

Own Your Swing Focus on the fundamentals you need to improve.

The 8-Second Rule Are you standing over the ball too long?

14

by bharath arvind

44 Albatross International

Coaches’ Comments Aditi’s coaches Steven Giuliano and Nicolas Cabaret on their pupil’s strengths by rohit bhardwaj

by rohit bhardwaj

by keely levins

Features

13

40 Rising Star: Rayhan Thomas

by rohit bhardwaj

36 Play Like A Kid Again What adults can learn from the best little tournament players.

Awe-inspiring Aditi Rookie Aditi Becomes 1st Indian To Win On The Ladies European Tour

84

by brittany romano and claire roGers 85

New Looks: Putters Check out these six models. by mike stachura

What’s in My Bag Bryson DeChambeau

Rundown Do pros use ball-washers?

Rules Guess who caused these unusual rulings on tour. by cliff schrock

96

Undercover Tour Pro Culture shock. with max adler

Cover photograph: Tristan Jones/European Tour

Editor’s Letter Dear Readers,

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

W

hat an incredible month November has turned out to be for Indian pro golfers!!

In the space of eight days, we had three international pro victories by Indians. On November 13th, SSP Chowrasia clinched the US$750,000 Manila Masters at around 3 pm IST and at 3.15 pm IST, Aditi Ashok holed her four foot putt to win the US$400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour in Gurgaon. In Manila, another three Indians were one stroke behind SSP! A week later, on Nov 20th, Gaganjeet Bhullar won his second Asian Tour title in six weeks at the Indonesian Open with veteran Jeev Milkha Singh tied in second place.

Between these seven Indian players, they Write to me at rishi@teamgolfdigest.com or on Twitter @RishiNarain_ pocketed US$438,000 or around Rs 3 crore in prize money during this 8-day period!!

The 10th edition of the Hero Women’s Indian Open was a success based on Aditi’s victory.

However, many observed that the spectator turnout could have been better. We believe if more people were aware of the event, they would have attended. The picturesque golf course and particularly the nail-biting finish was a treat to watch. We understand, there is lack of prior information in our media which leads to low spectator attendance. We at Golf Digest intend to keep readers better informed so they can plan to attend and watch big events. Overseas, major golf events start constant announcements using various media many months in advance to ensure a large turnout. Marketing of the sport is something we cannot ignore.

Today everyone is bombarded with more information than ever before and golf needs to be worked at to stay part of the conversation.

Next up the Asian Tour’s US$400,000 Panasonic Open returns to Delhi Golf Club, where Indians are known to come out on top. We hope the event sees bigger crowds.

Meanwhile, we thank our readers as many are joining our subscriber list every week. We intend to pack every future edition with valuable reference information so you don’t miss out on anything important in Indian golf.

Keep sending us your feedback and suggestions.

Happy Golfing!

Rishi Narain

TEAM GOLF DIGEST INDIA Editor & Publisher Rishi Narain Managing Editor Rohit Bhardwaj

Contributing Editor Bharath Arvind

Editorial Assistant Vineet Mann

Marketing & Advertising Nikhil Narain nikhil@teamgolfdigest.com , +91-9999990364

Assistant Art Director Guneet Singh Oberoi

Srijan Yadav Subscriptions Chitwanmeet Cour/ Monika Chhabra srijan@teamgolfdigest.com , +91-9416252880 subscribe@teamgolfdigest.com Phone: +91-9999868051 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®.

Golf Digest India is a monthly publication of Rishi Narain Golf Management Private Limited.

6 golf digest india | december 2016

GOLF DIGEST INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS AND EDITORS-IN-CHIEF GD ArGentinA Hernán SimÓ, Jorge R. Arias AustrAliAn GD Brad Clifton GD Chile Rodrigo Soto GD ChinA Echo Ma GD CzeCh republiC Robin Drahonovsky GD FinlAnD Sami Markkanen GD FrAnCe Henry Trouillet GD honG KonG Echo Ma GD inDonesiA Irwan Hermawan GD irelAnD Linton Walsh GD KoreA Eun Jeong “EJ” Sohn GD MAlAysiA Patrick Ho GD MexiCo Rafa Quiroz GD MiDDle eAst Robbie Greenfield GD portuGAl João Morais Leitão GD russiA Fedor Gogolev GD south AFriCA Stuart McLean GD spAin Óscar Maqueda GD sweDen Oskar Åsgård GD tAiwAn Jennifer Wei GD thAilAnD Chumphol Na Takuathung

Jack Nicklaus

Popularly known as The ‘Golden Bear’, Nicklaus is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time. He won a record 18 Majors during his playing career and is regarded as the ultimate thinker and strategist on the golf course. He lies third on the all-time winner list on the PGA Tour behind Sam Snead and Tiger Woods with 73 titles.

Tom Watson

Watson is an eighttime Major champion, with five British Open titles to his credit, who defied age by becoming the oldest professional golfer at 60 years to lead the second and third rounds of the 2009 British Open. He topped the World Rankings from 1978 to 1982.

Butch Harmon

Harmon is best known for having been Tiger Woods’ golf coach during the prime of his career from 1993 to 2004. He has also worked with other Major champions such as Ernie Els, Stewart Cink, Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard. Has topped many lists as the No. 1 rated golf instructor in the world.

David Leadbetter

Leadbetter, is without doubt the most celebrated golf instructor in history. His books, videos and DVD’s have sold in the millions worldwide. He came to wide notice in the 1980s when he rebuilt the swing of Nick Faldo, who then went on to win six Major championships. Apart from Faldo his students included Greg Norman (1997) and Ernie Els (1990–2008). Leadbetter changed golf instruction for all future generations from guesswork to science.

India Digest Letters to the Editor

From the

Readers I fell in love with golf in the US when I was studying there some 15 years ago and played it almost every week for the next 15 years. My kids joined later.

We recently returned to my hometown Surat. Unfortunately, golf has suffered as we have to travel to Ahmedabad to play. There is an obvious disconnect from the golfing culture and I feel bad for my kids! There is no better gift than the gift of golf- a game for life!

I recently picked up a copy of Golf Digest India at the Mumbai Airport – the one with the legendary Arnold Palmer on the cover. I read it on my flight thereafter. The story on Palmer was an easy read, loved it! but frankly, I was blown away with the magnitude of information on Indian golf. It was kind of a patriotic feeling reading about the success of fellow Indians. When I went home, I showe d the magazine to my kids. They are not heavy readers but they liked the pictures and then had a lot of questions. For a moment there, Golf Digest India connected us back to the game we all love so much. Thank you!

Thank you for a timely copy again this month. November issue made for an interesting reading especially the article on Arnold Palmer. He was a legend and you did justice by carrying an extensive but moving piece on “The King”. I am going save this copy in my archives. It is definitely a collectable for me.

Keep up the good work!

—Sumit Dhingra, Bengaluru Since its re-launch the magazine has been absolutely terrific. The magazine is playing an important role in reaching out to people all across the country and growing the game of golf in India.

Great work by you and your entire team!!!

VolumE 1 Issu

E7 RNI No. HARENG/2 016/6 NoVEmbER 2016 6983 `150

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—Vijit Nandrajog (Golf Design India) New Delhi

MONTHLY LUCKY DRAW!!!

The winner of new subscriber lucky draw contest will be announced on the Golf Digest India facebook page on the 30th of every month

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One new subscriber every month will win a Featherlite chair worth ` 20,000 through a lucky draw

Connect with us @IndiaGolfDigest

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Cover Story Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

AWE-INSPIRING ADITI Rookie Aditi Becomes 1st Indian To Win On The Ladies European Tour; Heads To US LPGA Final Qualifying School

Aditi Ashok (R) fist bumps her caddie Jesus Mozo of Spain after holing the winning putt

10 golf digest india | december 2016

Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

BY ROHIT BHARDWAJ rohit@teamgolfdigest.com

A

Cover Story

Aditi Ashok receives the Hero Women’s Indian Open trophy from Hero Motocorp MD, CEO & Chairman Pawan Munjal at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon

s the leader group arrived, a dead calm engulfed the 18th hole at the DLF Golf & Country Club. Till this time, India’s Aditi Ashok, Belen Mozo of Spain and American Brittany Lincicome were locked at two-under par in the $400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open.

Lincicome, the top-ranked pro in the field at World No. 40, was already on the driving range staying warm in case a playoff followed. Heartbeats soared and tension was visible on the faces of every fan, who was wishing for an outright Indian victory in the 10th edition of the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

Then Aditi birdied the final hole from about four feet despite the tremendous pressure to clinch India’s first-ever Ladies European Tour (LET) title, triggering loud cheers and whistles from the crowd. Later she received spontaneous applause from fellow competitors and the large crowd of spectators when she entered the hospitality tent, a heart warming, goose bump moment for everyone present.

The 18-year-old, who had first played in the Hero Indian Open as a 13-year-old amateur in 2011 and finished eighth the following year, was cool as a cucumber when she made that all important putt, which gave her $60,000 as prize money ( Rs 40 lacs approximately) . She didn’t show any emotions even after her triumph, only a handshake with rival Belen, a warm hug with defending champion Emily Pedersen and a fist bump with her caddie Jesus Mozo.

Aditi’s hold on her emotions only made people circling the 18th green and others filling the DLF Pavilion realize the Bengalorean’s mental fortitude. And that’s what makes her such a strong opponent.

The victory pushed her to the top spot in the LET Rookie of the Year rankings and also assured her full playing rights on the LET till the end of 2018. It also helped her reach the 201st spot in the World Rankings, a jump of 84 places.

Later, a jubilant Aditi interacted with the media about her win. Edited excerpts:

GDI: How does it feel to win your maiden LET title?

It feels good, because I was playing well all year and had four top-10s but I was never able to get all my good rounds together. I sort of did here. I was really good on the front nine and made a couple of mistakes on the back nine, but it was good.

GDI: You and Belen were neck-and-neck, exchanging the lead. What was going through your mind?

When the back nine started I knew the scores on pretty much every hole and was trying to make as many birdies as I could. I missed quite a few birdie chances on the front and

KNOW ADITI

Born: March 29, 1998 (age 18); Residence: Bengaluru Turned pro: 2016; Favourite course: Old Course, St Andrews Links, Scotland International wins: 7 l Played her first round of 18 holes at the age of six years and two months. l Youngest winner of WGAI pro event as an amateur (13 years and 5 months). l Only golfer to have played the Asian Youth Games (2013), Youth Olympic Games (2014), Asian Games (2014) and the Rio Olympics this year. l Youngest to win LET’s Q-School with the lowest winning score of 23-under par in December 2015. december 2016 | golf digest india

11

Cover Story Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016 Belen Mozo expresses her disappointment after missing a short putt on the 10th hole during the final round

I’ve had a lot of good finishes at the Indian Open and to finally get the job done feels good.

Especially as an Indian player in front of my home crowd. It means a lot to win this back nine, but luckily I birdied the 18th. On the third shot, I was thinking of playing at the flag so that if I was short or a little past it wouldn’t bounce a lot. I hit it left and I had a few of those on the front nine where I missed left, but luckily there was a slope which caught it. I thought it was in the rough but it caught the slope, so that was pretty cool. It rolled to just under four feet.

GDI: You were surprisingly calm. Has the victory sunk in?

I guess it will sink in in a few hours or when I reach home. I’ve had a lot of good finishes at the Indian Open and to finally get the job done, feels good, especially as an Indian player in front of my home crowd. It means a lot to win this.

This is the 10th Indian Open so that itself speaks about how long it’s lasted. We’ve had really good sponsors, especially Hero, who’s supported this event and the local tour for quite some time now. More girls will have a chance to take golf as a career than there were five years ago. That’s a good change

12 golf digest india | december 2016

and hopefully with my win there will be a lot more girls wanting to play golf.

GDI: How will this impact your chances for Rookie of the Year award?

I still have a couple of events and the LPGA Q School in the middle so I’m going to be focusing on those three weeks and looking forward to Qatar and Dubai. I’ve played in Dubai before and this will be my first time in Qatar. I’ve played in Abu Dhabi. I don’t know how far behind I was in the Rookie of the Year but now I think I’m close so I’ll try and do well in Qatar and Dubai and hopefully win that.

GDI: What were your thoughts before the final round?

I think I’m always calm. I had to remain patient because the back nine is tougher than the front nine. I knew I had to make the putts on the back nine and I made one on 10. I managed to create chances but 15 and 16 I just couldn’t make. I bogeyed 17th, where I made par and birdie on the first two days. I had a good chance on the 18th and made that.

WITH THE WIN l Aditi earned a full Ladies European Tour (LET) card till the end of 2018 l Jumped to the top spot on the LET Rookie of the Year rankings with total earnings of 105,414 Euros from 11 events. l Moved to the ninth spot on the LET Order of Merit l Climbed to 201st place in the World Rankings, a jump of 84 places from the previous week ADITI’S TOP 10S ON LET Ladies European Masters – Tied 9th Ladies Spanish Open – 6th Ladies Open De France – Tied 10th Xiamen International Open – Tied 8th ADITI’S HWIO STATS Stroke avg. – 71 Driving distance – 225.67 yards Driving accuracy – 76.19% Greens in regulation – 77.78% Putts per round – 30

RANK 1st 86th 40th 8th 13th

ADITI’S PAST FINISHES AT HWIO 2011 – Missed cut 2012 – Tied 8th 2013 – Tied 61st 2014 – Tied 14th 2015 – Tied 13th (Results as an amateur)

No. of Indians who made the cut – 5

Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

Cover Story

Coaches’ Comments

Aditi’s composure is innate: Steven

A

diti Ashok has been working with Steven Giuliano since 2012 and the results are for everyone to see. In an interview with Rohit Bhardwaj, Steven reveals that key to Aditi’s success has been her improved ball striking and perfect temperament during pressure situations.

Edited excerpts:

GDI: What are the strong points of Aditi’s game?

SG: That’s a tough question as I feel all areas are quite strong, she has cer tainly elevated the standard of her ball striking. Aditi is also very confident and possesses solid skills on and around the greens.

confidence in herself and what she can do.

GDI: What goals have you set for her in the next five years?

SG: As a coach I’m not looking much beyond 2016 as her main goals were the Olympics in Rio and gaining her LPGA card for 2017. I believe she will assess the situation at the end Pic: Aditi Ashok of 2016 and re-assess her goals, though playing on the LPGA and having success on the main stage has always been a goal of hers.

GDI: With scheduling issues and you based out of Malaysia how much time do you put in with Aditi and how do you cope with it while she is travelling GDI: What are the overseas on the LET? technical things that SG: We have some contact almost daily you have worked upon Aditi with golf coach Steven Giuliano during tournaments, I with her? have access to her stats SG: Her ball striking on-line which I am able to review after each has been an area of focus over the past two round and end of tournament. Sometimes years. Certain short game shots we are it’s something small in a text message working on technically to cover a wider though usually she’s quite self-sufficient variety of situations so she is more aware of which I believe is a key attribute to have and what adjustments need to be made and when. something which I have also encouraged as we have worked together over the years.

GDI: Aditi manages her emotions really As far as contact time we would look to well on the course. What has given Aditi meet up 3-5 times per year either in Malaysia such a great temperament? What helps or India for training or during tournaments. her keep calm during tense tournament This year was quite challenging due to it being situations? her rookie year and her final exams etc...

SG: I feel she understands the level of composure she needs to be at to compete (Steven Giuliano is Director-Player Development and at her best, this is somewhat innate and Golf Education at the Impact Elite Golf Academy, also somewhat developed through great Mines Resort and Golf Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. mentoring from her parents. Keeping things An Australian PGA member, Steven is an expert in simple and sticking to her routine are key AimPoint Green Reading techniques. Besides Aditi, areas to help her stay calm and overall having Malaysia No. 1 Danny Chia is part of his stable)

Diksha Dagar was among the five girls who made the cut

Diksha, 15, grabs leading amateur title Haryana teenager Diksha Dagar finished as the leading amateur at the Hero Women’s Indian Open in her first appearance on the Ladies European Tour. The 15-year-old left-hander, who overcame a hearing impairment to win multiple amateur tournaments, including three in 2016, finished 47th overall with a three-day tally of 13-over 229. She was one of the five Indians who made the cut. “It’s great to see Aditi win and very nice that she’s the first Indian to win the Women’s Indian Open. I will take a lot of motivation from this and her performance on the LET this year has instilled a lot of confidence in all Indian players of all ages,” Diksha said.

Diksha was introduced to the game by her father, Col. Narinder Dagar, a former scratch golfer who also acts as her coach and caddie.

Nicolas Cabaret

(Aditi’s performance training specialist and fitness coach) point. As a world class athlete, she has to travel and First time, I met Aditi, it was in 2010 in Bangalore. I compete a lot. My work is to help her to better deal with immediately saw a 11-year-old girl with a big potential her hectic schedule with the aim to be both physically and a more mature personality compared with the and mentally ready to compete and in a manner children of her age; She already knew what she wanted! abstracted from the fatigue.

I have seen her growing up as a future professional athlete since that day. She is more experienced, she has (Nicolas Cabaret is founder of Tohunga Excellence, France. a better understanding of her needs to improve her He has worked with world renowned tennis players like Andy game. And she is only 18! I talk to Aditi like I talk to many Murray, Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman along with various of my other elite athletes who are around 30-years-old. international sports federations) We don’t need to talk too long but to be straight to the —As told to Rohit Bhardwaj

with Nicolas Cabaret

DGC ANNOUNCES HONORARY MEMBERSHIP FOR ADITI Keeping in mind Aditi Ashok’s fantastic Hero Women’s Indian Open triumph on the Ladies European Tour (LET), Delhi Golf Club (DGC) president Siddharth Shriram announced an honorary membership for the 18-year-old at the 7th DGC Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship prize presentation. december 2016 | golf digest india

13

Cover Story Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

Aditi Finds ‘Mozo’ At Home

BY ROHIT BHARDWAJ rohit@teamgolfdigest.com

Aditi and her caddy Jesus Mozo share a light moment

T

he final round was a neck-and-neck battle between Aditi and Spain’s Belen Mozo with top-ranked American Brittany Lincicome in

the mix.

And interestingly, the man carrying Aditi’s bag was none other than Belen’s brother Jesus. Jesus had to balance his emotions quite well. In the end, he was happy for Aditi’s win as much as his sister finishing runner-up in the $400,000 Ladies European Tour (LET) event.

“She’s young but she has really matured.

She plays like a 30-year-old player, which is just amazing. She has been pretty calm from the very beginning. I just told her to focus on her game, play safe, don’t go for the pin as she is a good putter. I was not reading the greens for her, she was doing it herself. She was playing a tournament in her country, there was a lot of pressure on her, everybody was focusing on her, but she didn’t let that affect her,” an excited Jesus told Golf Digest India later.

Aditi decided to team up with Jesus for the Hero Women’s Indian Open following their meeting at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Abu Dhabi two weeks earlier as the Spaniard’s professional pulled out at the last moment. He will be caddying for Aditi in the two remaining events on LET, but things are still uncertain for next season.

Aditi, the overnight joint leader, started with a birdie on the second before dropping a shot on the seventh. On the other hand, Belen began with a bogey on the third. But the Spaniard rolled in three birdies (on Holes 8, 9 & 12) to join Aditi in the lead.

The Bengalurean responded with a birdie on the 10th to go ahead briefly as she dropped a shot on the 13th to fall back into a tie with Belen.

There was one moment on the 17th hole when Belen’s approach hit a spectator and ricocheted on to the green. But the 28-yearold bogeyed as did Aditi. This lucky break could have changed the outcome had Belen made a par.

In a dramatic finale both players were locked at two-under par going into the final hole. It could have been anybody’s title at the Gary Player-designed DLF Golf & Country Club’s tough par-5 finishing hole.

But the stars were in Aditi’s favour as her third shot on the 18th caught the slope to trickle down to within four feet of the cup for a makeable birdie and her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) title in her rookie year.

Later, Jesus negated the prying questions about his loyalties.

14 golf digest india | december 2016

Aditi Ashok’s ball in thick grass on the 14th hole in the first round

“Belen got lucky on 17 but so did Aditi on 18. It was great, we played three rounds together, it was awesome. I wanted my player to win and also my sister. They both finished in the first two positions, so nothing can be better,” said Jesus.

Belen also complimented Aditi.

“I had a great battle today with Aditi.

She’s a great player and when you compete with players this young, they are fearless, they don’t feel anything in their veins and they just go for it.

I played great until the last hole.

I hit a really good shot and I stayed short for birdie, which I’m probably going to think about for a long time.

She had a lucky bounce. She had to make a good putt to win and she did.

I’m proud and actually, happy for India and the title sponsor that an Indian girl won. I’m very happy for her and congratulate her. We'll see her more in the future, that's for sure.”

Belen got lucky on 17 but so did Aditi on 18.

It was great, we played three rounds together, it was awesome. I wanted my player to win and also my sister.

Both finished in the top-2, so nothing can be better — Jesus Mozo, Aditi’s caddy

Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

Cover Story

PRAISES GALORE… Aditi Ashok’s feat received much applause from the golfing fraternity...

Congrats @ aditigolf on your historic win at the @ WomenIndianOpen!

First Indian to win on the @LETgolfwhat a proud moment! My very best. GP @garyplayer |Gary Player, Golf legend

Super Sunday for Indian golf. Well done @aditigolf and SSP. So happy and proud to see as an Indian.

Onwards and upwards #goindia #currypower @anirbangolf | Anirban Lahiri, Highest-ranked Indian pro

Amazing. Congrats to @ aditigolf on winning @ LETgolf @HeroWIO2016 #history @ANNIKA59 | Annika Sorenstam , Golf legend

@aditigolf @ssp_golf Congratulations! History made. Great to see an Indian win the Indian Open & SSP win in Manila!

Good day for Indian golf @MissNicollet | Sharmila Nicollet, Indian golfer

Well done @aditigolf.

Wish you many more.

Yours is a path less travelled in India so we look forward to your journey with much anticipation @bhogleharsha | Harsha Bhogle, Top TV Commentator

Heartiest congratulations to @aditigolf for winning the @HeroWIO2016.

We have something in common! But wish I had won it at 18!! #IndianOpen @SSP_Golf | SSP Chawrasia, European Tour regular

Well done @aditigolf – the first LET champion from India. Enjoy the feeling and get motivated from it for many more in future. @JeevMilkhaSingh | Jeev Milkha Singh, Former Asia No. 1

A glass ceiling has been broken by Aditi. When we started the women’s professional tour in the country, our aim was to produce an Indian winner and thanks to Aditi for doing it. From that (amateur)

rank to come up and win the Women’s Indian Open, it’s huge. I am proud what she has done for women’s golf. We desperately needed this to happen.

Smriti ‘Simi’ Mehra, Former LPGA Tour regular

What a wonderful experience playing this week in the #womensindianopen The memories from this week I will have for the rest of my life. Congrats to Aditi Ashok for winning this week. Especially being from India. Very cool. Thank you so much to all the sponsors and fans that came out to support us this week. All of you were awesome @brittany1golf | Brittany Lincicome, American golfer Aditi is a trailblazer for Indian women’s golf as Anirban (Lahiri) is for men. We all hope she goes on to do well on the LPGA Tour, just like Simi upheld the Indian flag in the US. Indian women’s golf is at an infant stage in the country.

Thanks to the WGAI they have got a big bunch of talented youngsters who are taking the game forward. We need to bring a lot more youngsters into the game and then sky is the limit. Right now only 18-20 odd girls play on the domestic tour. I don’t know what would happen if 200 girls playing golf. Aditi has shown the way to a lot of young girls and is a role model.

Gaurav Ghei, Asian Tour golfer

Smriti Mehra (L) rings in the celebrations

december 2016 | golf digest india

15

India Digest Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

CAPTURED!

Ladies European Tour CEO Ivan Khodabakhsh

AHEAD OF THE PACK: Fans follow the leader Aditi Ashok

Natalia Escuriola Martinez (L) ties up Nuria Iturrios’ hair

ALL SMILES: Belen Mozo played well to get into the mix

Austria’s Christine Wolf with young fans

16 golf digest india | december 2016

Defending champion Emily Pedersen congratulates Aditi

HAPPY FACES: Czech Klara Spilkova (L) and Kyle Roig of Puerto Rico

FRAMED: European girls in a picture perfect pose

LET Order of Merit leader Beth Allen

Photographs Courtesy: Tristan Jones (Ladies European Tour), Dharam Diwakar

Gol f e r’s Pa r a d i s e

For more information: New Delhi:(91 11) 4674 1111, tatdel@tat.or.th, Mumbai:(91 22) 2204 2727-28, tatmumbai@tat.or.th

Website: www.tourismthailand.org

India Digest Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

Leticia Ras-Anderica of Germany

Anne Van Dam of Holland

A

Taj Mahal high for LET pros

group of 40 international golfers from the Ladies European Tour (LET) visited the Taj Mahal in Agra ahead of competing in the tournament. Anne Van Dam, the recent Xiamen International Open champion from the Netherlands, who played in the tournament for the second time, commented: “I’m really impressed. You see the pictures on the internet and you might know someone who has visited but when you see it for the first time, it’s incredible. You see all the stories about how they built it, at that time, with all the little details.” The current leading LET Rookie, Nuria Iturrios from Spain, who won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco earlier this season, was also impressed. She commented: “It’s my first time in India and my first experience like this.”

18 golf digest india | december 2016

Photographs Courtesy: Tristan Jones (Ladies European Tour), Dharam Diwakar, K Jairaj Chaudhri

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India Digest Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016 Olympians pose with Hero Motocorp chairman Pawan Munjal and WGAI president Kavita Singh (extreme left)

Olympians Light Up The Night

T L-R: Stacy Bergman, Nicole Garcia, Manav and Preeti Sardana

Rishi Narain (C) with Ajit Agarkar (R) during the party

20 golf digest india | december 2016

he 12 Olympians competing in the Hero Women’s Indian Open sizzled at the players party at the DLF Pavilion. Spain’s Belen Mozo and Colombia’s Paula Hurtado were spotted in a saree along with Ladies European Tour (LET) media manager Bethan Cutler and player co-ordinator Polly Clark. The crowd enjoyed a plethora of dishes along with some great international music and wine. The Indian contingent put vivid colours on display, dressed up in traditional attire.

L-R: Le Meridien GM david Hopcroft, Gaurav Shirke and digraj Singh

Scotland’s Carly Booth

THe fuNjABI BRIGAde: Girls know how to have fun

Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016

India Digest

L-R: Indian contingent of Siddhi Kapoor, Amandeep Drall, Ankita Tiwana, Gursimar Badwal, Shweta Galande, Neha Tripathi, Saaniya Sharma, Kiran Matharu and Mehar Atwal

SAREE QUEENS: Paula Hurtado of Colombia and Spain’s Belen Mozo

Iceland’s Olafia Kristinsdottir

L-R: Vani Kapoor, Anitya Chand, Gaurika Bishnoi and Tvesa Malik

IN THE MOOD: Girls having fun during the party

L-R: Ankita Tiwana, Victoria Lovelady, Mehar and Seher along with mother Aru Atwal

Lauren Taylor (L) and Kyle Roig during the welcome reception

DLF Home Developers Executive Director Aakash Ohri with Belen Mozo

DLF’s Bandana Jha, WGAI Secretary General Champika Sayal and LET’s Polly Clark

december 2016 | golf digest india

21

India Digest Hero Challenge

Golfing Spectacle For Fans

panoramiC view: The fantastic setting with laser lights enthralled the audience

FireD Up: Flame bursts followed each time a participant teed off for the Hero Challenge one hole shootout making for an impressive viewing

22 golf digest india | december 2016

Pawan Munjal tees off during the Celebrity Challenge

Hero Challenge

India Digest

Hero Motocorp MD, CEO & Chairman Pawan Munjal hands over the winning cheque to Beth Allen of the US; L-R: Brittany Lincicome (USA), Carly Booth (Scotland), WGAI president Kavita Singh, Paula Hurtado (Colombia), Emily Pedersen (Denmark), Gwladys Nocera (France) and Caroline Hedwall (Sweden) also participated in the Hero Challenge

G

olf fans witnessed a sporting spectacle just before the start of the 10th edition of the Hero Women’s Indian Open. The Hero Challenge, a one hole shootout, saw eight top pros Brittany Lincicome (USA), Gwladys Nocera (France), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden), Paula Hurtado (Colombia), Emily Pedersen (Denmark), Carly Booth (Scotland), Amandeep Drall and Beth Allen (USA) compete against each other for a prize money of US$2000.

Flame bursts and laser lights along with foot tapping music and interesting chit chat by hosts heightened the entertainment quotient of the event. In the end, Beth Allen pocketed the coveted prize purse. In the Celebrity Challenge, it was the turn of former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar to come up trumps against Hero Motocorp MD, CEO & Chairman Pawan Munjal and WGAI president Kavita Singh.

India’s Amandeep Drall advanced till the semifinals of the event

Former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar receives his award after winning the Celebrity Challenge from Pawan Munjal as WGAI president Kavita Singh looks on

Beth Allen (foreground) receives a hug from Paula Hurtado after winning the Hero Challenge

Paula Hurtado failed to hole her putt by a whisker

december 2016 | golf digest india

23

India Digest Across The Country

Club Round up To share news on your club or updates from across the country, please email vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

Playing Opportunities

Golf Digest View

Chandigarh Golf Club and range to open for caddies The growing popularity of the game is at an unprecedented high. While many golf courses already allow course access for caddies, Chandigarh Golf Club followed suit by allowing caddies to use the facility gratis every Monday.

“It’s something we thought we could

do for the caddies as most of them are very passionate about the game. Also, we would like them to improve, and hopefully they will pass on the correct etiquette of the game to beginners and youngsters,” says Col Karan Thandi, Captain of the Chandigarh Golf Course.

We welcome the move and appreciate the initiative by CGC management.

Knowledgeble caddies play an important role in attracting new players into the game and creating respect for rules and etiquette among newcomers.

Promoting Junior Golf

Gujarat golf clubs to promote the game among children Gujarat’s leading golf courses have joined hands to form Golf Course Owners’ Association (GCOA) in the state with a vision to promote golf tourism and golfing culture in the state with special focus on junior golf development.

GCOA currently includes Kalhaar Blues and Greens, Kensville Golf Club, Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club and Gaekwad Baroda Golf Club.

To make a structured and targeted effort in this direction, the junior development program implemented by GCOA has been classified into two parts, ‘Broad Basing Program’ where schools and social clubs will be approached to widen the base and introduce more people to the game and ‘Excellence Program’ where 15-20 kids showing potential will be given special training by top level Indian coaches to bring out future champions.

Devang Shah, MD, Navratna Group and President, GCOA said, “We are the affiliated state association to the Indian Golf Union which is the parent body of golf in India. We aim to start inter-school tournaments and promote it among various social clubs across the state. In order to erase the notion that golf is a rich man’s game, we are in the process of making the game available to the common man by providing them playing opportunities on state-affiliated golf courses. The association aims to spread this game to other cities like Rajkot, Surat and Bharuch where there is a good potential for growth.”

Golf Digest View Gujarat has seen most new course developments in the past decade with 8-9 new courses opening up. Now the need is to develop new players and juniors. Schools are the best place to find new talent and we will follow the success of this program closely.

Golf Course owner’s AssoCiAtion intends to stArt A Golf sCholArship proGrAm to support deservinG younG kids.

24 golf digest india | december 2016

Across The Country

India Digest

Tournament

Royal Premier Golf League at RCGC from January Building on a successful inaugural edition last year, Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) is all set for the 2nd edition of “Royal Premier Golf League”.

The tournament will be played over three months from January to March 2017 among 20 teams of 21 amateur golfers each for a whopping total of 420 golfers. The league is open only to RCGC members and dependents.

The teams will be divided into 2 groups and will play matches on round robin format with each team playing 9 league matches in their own group & each league match will comprise of 6 matches to be played on Four ball better ball format.

This will culminate into the quarter finals with the top four teams from each group fighting it out for the championship.

Golf Digest View We believe that such organized competition among club members helps spread awareness of the proper rules of golf, respect for accurate handicapping and encourages beginners to get assimilated into the game.

Welfare

Delhi Golf Club to provide uniforms to caddies Caddies of Delhi Golf Club that are covered under Caddies Welfare Trust (CWT) will be provided with free uniforms and shoes. The well received initiative is a result of CWT's endeavor to devise multiple schemes to improve the lives of caddies and their families. For this initiative, the CWT has received valued support of many golfers including Jasmeet Singh (JCB) and Rajat Narula.

Golf Digest View In Golf Digest’s opinion, the recent surge of Caddy Welfare initiatives including the Gujarat Caddy League, DLF All India Caddy Tournament, Chandigarh GC opening its course to caddies and Caddy Welfare Trust at Delhi GC are very welcome. We invite other clubs to write into us and share with all golfers what they are doing to improve the welfare of these valuable golfing companions.

The Caddy Welfare Tru st provides benefits thr oughout the year including: • Medical insurance • Health Checkup; OP D expenses • Ex- gratia subsidies in case of illness • Incentive for children of caddies in higher studies

december 2016 | golf digest india

25

India Digest Newsmakers

Players in the news Asian Tour

won Prize money

00 $180,0 22 crore)

(approx. 1.

START OF MANY FIRSTS: SSP Chowrasia lifted his first overseas title at the Resorts World Manila Masters

SSP breakS through on foreign turf

S

SP Chowrasia secured his fifth international tour title by winning the $1 million Resorts World Manila Masters at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club in November. This marked his first win abroad with previous wins coming on home soil on the European and Asian Tours. The Kolkatan showed great tenacity as he made a charge on the final day with a flawless 6-under 66 and a total of 19-under for the tournament thereby forcing a three way playoff between Nicholas Fung of Malaysia and American Sam Chien. Earlier this year, SSP won the $1.66 million Hero Indian Open - an event co-sanctioned by the European Tour & Asian Tour. SSP spoke to Golf Digest India prior to his departure for the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne (Australia). Edited excerpts:

26 golf digest india | december 2016

GDI: Congratulations on your first victory abroad. What will your focus now be for the new season?

My goal at the start of the year was to win on foreign soil and I am thankful for getting that opportunity at Manila. This gives me greater confidence to finish the rest of the season on a strong note and take good form going into the 2017 season. I plan to play

“I plan to play about 10 tournaments on the asIan tour In 2017 but wIll focus my efforts on the european tour from January onwards�

about 10 tournaments on the Asian Tour in 2017 as I did this year but will focus my efforts predominantly on the European Tour from January onwards. The Indian Open win has given me playing rights in Europe for the next three years and I plan to make the most of it.

GDI: What was going through your mind during the final stages in Manila?

I was 18-under after 17 holes and saw the leader at 19-under and knew that I needed to make a birdie on the last to force a playoff.

I hit my second shot into the bunker but when I got to the ball, I felt confident on the lie and type of shot. I got a good feeling and told myself that I needed to make this count and push for a playoff.

I took my time to gauge everything and finally struck a good shot. I nearly holed out for eagle but got the birdie I wanted and was able to push for a playoff.

PhotograPhs courtesy: asian tour

BY BHARATH ARVIND bharath@teamgolfdigest.com

Newsmakers India Digest

indians dominate in Manila

Four Indians finished in the top 6 of the RWM Masters and eight made the 36 hole cut. They gobbled up almost 33% (approx $330,000) of the $1 million prize purse !! Way to go !

Jyoti Randhawa sets season’s RecoRd

Eight-time Asian Tour winner Jyoti Randhawa established the Asian Tour’s season record for lowest opening 36-hole score with rounds of 64 and 65 for a 15-under par 129 at the halfway stage of the tournament. He ended tied 4th, one stroke out of the playoff at -18 after 4 days tied with two other Indians – Shubhankar Sharma and Chiragh Kumar.

WINNING SHOT: SSP Chowrasia celebrates after sinking the winning birdie on the second playoff hole to pip Sam Chien of USA for the title

In the playoff, Nicholas Fung got eliminated on the first hole.

Thereafter on the second I just told myself to keep it on the fairway and did just that. Sam went wayward on his tee shot and after that I told myself to hit a good second and again managed to get on the green for eagle. That’s when I knew I had probably won it and felt a huge sense of relief.

GDI: A lot of Indians did well at the tournament. It must have been helpful to have them for support especially during the playoff?

It was great to have Jyoti (Randhawa) and others also playing well.

Jyoti and I played together and he also had a chunk of birdies but a few bogeys dropped him out of contention. After his round was complete he encouraged me a lot during the playoff. It was a great feeling to finally win on foreign soil and close the season with two wins. I am looking forward to 2017!

chowRasia - with the win Jumped from 318 to 220 in oWGr – 98 positions earninGs on asian tour 2016 season – us $ 517,467 Career earninGs on asian tour – us$ 2,558,295 order of merit Jump – 7th position from 9th Photographs courtesy: Asian Tour

SUBLIME SHOW: Three-time Indian Open champion Jyoti Randhawa led in the first three rounds of the event

shubhankaR shaRma lights up the couRse with 62

20-year-old Shubhankar Sharma’s sizzling final day round of 10-under 62 vaulted him into the clubhouse lead and for a while, victory appeared to be his. It was not till the final groups came in that Shubhankar missed getting into the playoff by just one stroke. He carded six birdies and finished with two eagle 3’s on the 15th and 18th.

“It has been a hugely satisfying day for me today at the RWM Masters 2016. A big thank you to my coach Jesse Grewal and to my sponsors DLF, Take solutions and Indorama ventures for their constant support. Also a big shout out to Gurbaaz Mann @falcon1golf for helping me out with my clubs last week.” shared an elated Shubhankar via his Facebook post.

chiRagh secuRes playing Rights foR 2017 season

Thanks to a tied-fourth finish in Manila, Chiragh Kumar has propelled to 40th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, putting him well inside the top-60 cutoff mark to retain his card for the next season. He brings his confidence and rich form to the US$ 400,000 Panasonic Open at Delhi Golf Club in a bid to defend the title from December 1 to 4. december 2016 | golf digest india

27

India Digest Newsmakers

Triple Delight For Bhullar In Indonesia Bangladesh Open - Tied-9th Shinhan Donghae Open – 1st Indonesia Masters – 5th

fast facts l This was Bhullar’s second win inside seven weeks l Bhullar moved to ninth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit after this victory and 175th in the Official World Golf Rankings (a jump of 71 places), the 2nd highest Indian after Anirban Lahiri, who is 76th.

Gaganjeet Bhullar with the Bank BRI-JCB Indonesia Open trophy

G

aganjeet Bhullar’s love story with Indonesia is only growing each day.

His first Asian Tour title came at the Indonesia President Invitational in 2009.

And the Kapurthala lad completed a double at the $300,000 Bank BRI-JCB Indonesia Open this November after closing with a four-under-par 68 for a comfortable three stroke margin over five chasing competitors.

Bhullar, who also won the event in 2013, sealed his seventh Asian Tour victory and a second title this season inside seven weeks with a 16-under 272 total at Jakarta’s Pondok Indah Golf Course.

He pocketed $54,000 (Rs 36.83 lakh) for the win which took him to ninth place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with US$358,737 (Rs 2.43 crore) to date.

He and playing partner Jeev Milkha Singh, two shots back with three to play , who was the only one who could catch him, returned to finish his remaining three holes on Monday morning as play was abandoned on Sunday afternoon due to thunderstorms.

Jeev, a two-time Asian Tour No. 1, threatened briefly before settling for tied second place, his best result since 2012, after making bogey on the 17th hole to finish on 72.

The 28-year-old Bhullar made five birdies

in seven holes on Sunday before returning to par his last three holes and clinch his second victory in two months.

With this win, Bhullar now has two wins and a fifth place in his last five starts on the Asian Tour and shows that his form has well and truly returned after spending two long years in a slump. The long-hitting lad from Kapurthala, Punjab, had in 2013, at age 25, become the youngest ever player to record five wins on the Asian Tour. A wrist injury followed by a long slump set his career back but surely this re-emergence will see him wiser and able to appreciate success more than ever.

“It is never easy in a Monday finish especially when you only have a two-shot lead. I slept at 7pm the previous night —gaganjeet bhullar and woke up at 2am because there was so much adrenaline rush. I just couldn’t focus on anything. I just could not divert my mind anywhere else apart from the last few holes.

At the end of the day I’m proud of myself and I’m glad I pulled it off,” said Bhullar.

Singh, 44, who has not won since 2012, admitted: “I played well but Gaganjeet started really well on Sunday. I tried to push him but I finished second and I’ll take that result as it is my best finish of the year.

I slept at 7pm the prevIous nIght and woke up at 2am because there was so much adrenalIne rush. I just couldn’t focus on anythIng. I just could not dIvert my mInd anywhere else apart from the last few holes. at the end of the day I’m proud of myself and I’m glad I pulled It off”

28 golf digest india | december 2016

asian tour Order of Merit – top-10 Pos Player

Earnings (US$)

1

Scott Hend (Aus)

996,592

2

Marcus Fraser (Aus)

694,173

3

Anirban Lahiri (Ind)

686,707

4

Jeunghun Wang (Kor)

546,193

5

Chan Shih-Chang (Tpe)

542,820

6

Miguel Tabuena (Phi)

517,726

7

S.S.P Chowrasia (Ind)

517,467

8

Soomin Lee (Kor)

361,744

9

Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind)

358,737

10 Younghan Song (Kor)

345,557

(After Bank BRI-JCB Indonesia Open)

indian results Tied 2nd - Jeev Milkha Singh (71-66-66-72); T-14 - Jyoti Randhawa (73-70-68-68); T-24 – Khalin Joshi (65-70-74-73); T-27 – Shubhankar Sharma (74-65-71-73), Chikkarangappa S (74-68-73-68); T-36 – Chiragh Kumar (68-72-73-71); T-52 – Himmat Rai (71-71-75-71); T-64 – Abhinav Lohan (70-72-77-72).

“It Is great to see the depth of the asIan tour. It Is good to see these young kIds hungry and they want to bIrdIe every hole. that’s the way It should be. gaganjeet Is 28 years old and I thInk sky’s the lImIt for hIm. It Is good to see these young kIds doIng well. obvIously I want to compete wIth them. In fact, they push me to do better.”

—jeev mIlkha sIngh

PhotograPhs courtesy: asian tour

Bhullar’s Best finishes in 2016

Newsmakers India Digest

Professional Golf tour of india

PGTI Order of Merit after Indian Oil Digboi Masters

Kochhar rewrites Pgti history BooKs at tollygunge cluB

History was made at Kolkata’s Tollygunge Club when 17-year-old leading junior Karandeep Kochhar recorded victory and became the first Indian amateur to win on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in its 10 year history.

At 17 years 5 months of age, Kochhar also broke the record held by professional Shubhankar Sharma of being the youngest player to win on PGTI who won in 2014 at Cochin Masters.

Thanks to a blistering performance during the final round where he sank nine birdies against one bogey for a score of 62 and a 54 hole total of 14-under 196. The tournament was declared to be a 54 hole event due to inclement weather.

The six-foot tall Chandigarh lad missed out on any prize money at the 30 lakh event. But the Class 12 student managed to prove his mettle via a three stroke victory over second-placed OP Chouhan. Chouhan, however, took home the cheque of Rs. 4.5 lakhs for the best performance by a professional.

He has no plans to turn pro immediately and wants to continue as an amateur for now. He is a student of Class 12 in St John’s High School, Sector 26, Chandigarh and started playing golf at age 3 as his grandfather, Dr. GS Kochhar, was already a keen golfer at the Chandigarh golf club.

Currently Kochhar is leading the rankings on the IGU Junior Tour.

His ultimate aim is to turn pro and play on the USPGA Tour. “This win has given me confidence that my game is good enough to compete with experienced pros”, said Kochhar.

Prior to his exploits, Bangladesh’s Mohd Zamal Hossain Mollah was the only amateur to win a PGTI event when he pocketed the Bangladesh Open title in 2009.

es Karandeep’s best performanc : ude as an amateur incl al Junior Golf Championship 2014, 2015 Amateur Stroke l Win at 115th All India Junior rs 2016 Junio India rn Play 2015 and Easte

l Win at Albatross Internation

Rank

Player

Prize Money (`)

Played

Won

Top 10

1.

Chikkarangappa S

24,06,640

6

2

4

2.

Honey Baisoya

23,90,145

15

2

7

3.

Shubhankar Sharma

21,75,348

9

2

7

4.

Ajeetesh Sandhu

19,27,468

11

1

7

5.

Khalin H Joshi

19,11,490

9

1

8

6.

M Dharma

17,93,893

16

0

5

7.

Rashid Khan

17,80,030

5

2

5

8.

Harendra Gupta

16,85,256

16

1

6

9.

Mukesh Kumar

16,35,939

15

1

6

10.

Anura Rohana

15,95,602

13

0

4

Baisoya ends 4-year wait in shillong

Delhi’s Honey Baisoya secured back-to-back victories on the PGTI after marching to a comfortable nine-stroke win at the IndianOil Servo Masters Golf 2016 at the Digboi Golf Links. In-form Baisoya posted a winning tournament total of 20-under 268 to take home the title. The 20-year-old who turned pro in 2012, ended a 4-year long drought with his first-ever professional title at the Chief Minister’s Meghalaya Open.Baisoya shot a resolute four-under 66 in the final round of the Rs. 40 lakh event at the Shillong Golf Course to join the winner’s circle on the PGTI with a tournament tally of 9-under 271. Baisoya, who took home the winner’s cheque worth Rs. 6 lakhs has now jumped up from 15th place to second position in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Stat Pack: With 17 eagles to his name already this season, Honey Baisoya is currently the “eagle leader“ on the PGTI circuit after surpassing Rashid Khan’s record of 15 eagles in 2014.

Father-son duos Play on tour

Father – son duos playing in the same pro tournament have been rare anywhere in the world. However in Kolkota, veteran pro Feroz Ali Mollah who has won twice this season and his 24-year-old son Imran, still playing as an amateur joined another father-son pair Indrajit & Udayjit Bhalotia in the field.

Indrajit, who divides his time between playing and coaching, along with 17-yearold Udayjit Bhalotia are a well-established father-son duo. Still a junior, Udayjit has been playing with his father as an amateur on the PGTI circuit for some time now.

Likewise, Imran is also looking for more outings on the domestic tour as an amateur to gain experience before he plans to turn pro. december 2016 | golf digest india

29

India Digest Newsmakers

Pawan Munjal tees off with Rory in Dubai

By V KrishNaswamy (@Swinging_Swamy) Dubai: That Pawan Munjal loves golf is a well-known fact. It is equally well-known that he spares no effort to promote the game he loves so much. And he also loves to play with the very best in the world – he got Tiger Woods to come to his home course, the Delhi Golf Club and played a round with him in 2014.

But this November was reserved for Rory McIlroy. Munjal, who has often featured in the Pro-Am at the DP World Tour Championships and at Dubai Desert Classic, played with the four-time Major winner McIlroy on the eve of the 2016 edition of the season-ending event of the European Tour.

“It is always a pleasure to play with the world’s best,” said Mr. Munjal after the round. “We all know why he is such a great player, but today I was privileged to watch it from such close quarters.”

30 golf digest india | december 2016

On his own game with former World No.1, he said, “When you play with the best, you are motivated and your game automatically gets a boost.”

When Mr. Munjal first played with Tiger, he forged a relationship that blossomed into a friendship, which has seen Woods become a brand ambassador for Hero MotoCorp.

“It Is always a pleasure to play wIth the world’s best. we all know why he Is such a great player, but today I was prIvIleged to watch It from such close quarters.”

Mr Munjal’s company, Hero MotoCorp, also sponsors Tiger’s tournament, the Hero World Challenge, which brings together 18 of the world’s best golfers in most exciting locations – last year and this year again, it is scheduled in Bahamas.

So, will we see Rory sometime soon in India? Wait and watch! Who knows, with Indian golf going places, maybe McIlroy will see it worth his while to come to India, too.

Meanwhile, watching the World’s No.1 motorcycle manufacturer, Mr. Munjal and McIlroy, from the other side of the rope was Rayhan Thomas, the 17-year-old amateur, who is the top Indian in terms of World Amateur Golf Rankings. “Wow, I have watched Rory McIlroy play before and as usual it was great.

It was also nice to meet for the first time, Mr. Pawan Munjal, who has supported Indian golf so much and for so long,” said the young man, who represented India at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Championships last October in Incheon, Korea.

Newsmakers India Digest

Footloose in golf

By V KrishNaswamy (@swinging_swamy)

ManneQuin challenge - frozen in tiMe

Some are calling it the new ‘Ice Bucket’ challenge, but the fact is the Mannequin Challenge is the new fad in town. There are any number of them on internet, but the European Tour got its own on the eve of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

They put together what may well be one of the ‘biggest’ attempts at the Mannequin Challenge.

Big, if only because of the sheer number of players and people they managed to get in for the effort. It is quite good and entertaining because of the number of wellknown players, who we recognize.

The very beautifully edited video has Mikko Ilonen and Rikard Karlberg playing with the Claret Jug to ‘Beefy’ Johnston taking a shave to selfie-attempt by Martin Kaymer to Henrik Stenson sinking a putt to win The Open. In between many others like Padraig Harrington, who is probably the best, Chris Wood and others, too, figure, besides caddies, officials and fans.

So near and yet So far

Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia have full playing rights on the European Tour, while Jeev Milkha Singh, a multiple winner in Europe, and Shiv Kapur will have limited status but are assured of some starts.

excellent geSture by dgc; SSp chawraSia, too deServeS it Rahil Gangjee (68-69-73-71-70-74) came within two strokes of joining them on the Tour before he faltered in the final round of the six-round qualifier and ended T-37 as only 30 players won a card for 2017.

T wo o ther player s had Indian background; though they now represent other countries were also in the fray. Aaron Rai, 21, now playing for England, was 18th on Challenge Tour, from where Top-15 go to European Tour for the following season.

Then in the final stage of Q-School, he also finished T-37.

Julian Suri, 23, whose tennis-playing father Jagan, left India and settled US long back, came through first and second stages of Q-School and then ended T-31 and missed getting a card by one place.

The Delhi Golf Club has in a great gesture granted honorary membership to Aditi Ashok, who becomes the first Indian to win a Ladies European Tour. One is sure that the current President DGC Sidharth Shriram would have been the prime mover in this respect.

But maybe the DGC should also look into SSP Chawrasia’s case, too. He won the Manila Masters, the same day in the Philippines.

Interestingly, three of Chawrasia’s five International wins have come at the DGC. The first was EMAAR-MGF Masters in 2008; the Panasonic Open India in 2014 and the Hero Indian Open in 2015.

His other two wins are 2011 Avantha Masters at DLF and the 2016 Manila Masters at Manila Southwoods GCC.

International Golf

Sandhu advanceS to Japan Q-School final Stage

Chandigarh Pro Ajeetesh Sandhu advanced to the final qualifying stage of the Japan Golf Tour’s qualifying school for the 2017 season by finishing 22nd in the third stage held at Horai Country Club in Tochigi, Japan in late November. The top-30 finishers at the event made it through to the final stage. Ajeetesh has had two victories on the PGTI Tour till date and his best finish on the Asian Tour has been 3rd place at 2011 Sail Open on home soil.

“I’m delighted to have cleared the third stage despite the tough weather conditions. It was extremely cold and windy out there and I had to contend with snow as well. The temperature was around three to four degrees on most days. It was as much a mental battle as a physical one. The multiple layers of clothing affected one’s swing as well. I’m now in a good frame of mind and looking forward to the final stage of the Q-School.”

Japan Tour Final Stag e Qualification

l When- Dec 1-6

l Where - Cocopa Res

ort Club near the city of Nagoya l No of players - 150 l No. of rounds – 6 l Cut after 4 rounds – Top 90 go through l Top 35 finishers get full playing rights on the lucrative Japan Gol f Tour Ajeetesh would become the second Indian after Jeev Milkha Sin gh who won four tournaments ther e to earn a card on the Japan Golf Tou r through the Qualifying School.

december 2016 | golf digest india

31

India Digest Newsmakers Amateur Golf Diksha Dagar with father Col. Narinder Dagar

luThra defends igu sr amaTeur TiTle

Well known Delhi veteran golfer Amit Luthra defended his title at the IGU All India Mid-Amateur & Senior's Golf Championship held at Oxford Golf Resort. Playing over three days at the par 72 course, Luthra carded 12-over par 228 to beat past champion Gangesh Khaitan by one stroke. The two will be part of a five member Indian team at the upcoming Asia Pacific Senior Amateur to be played at Alabang Country Club, Manila, Philippines from 16 to 18 November.

Three girls for faldo asia grand finals VieTnam

Haryana’s 16 year old Diksha Dagar qualified for the 11th Faldo Series Asia Grand Finals after retaining the Faldo Series India Girls’ Championship title at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in late October. Playing in the Under-16 category, she shot the lowest total of the event (nine-over 219) to ease past close rivals Tvesa Malik of DLF GC and Sifat Sagoo (U-16) from Delhi GC. 20 year old Tvesa will also qualify for the Faldo series in the Under 21 category along with the Under -18 winner Amrita Anand from Noida Golf Club at Laguna Lăng Cô in Danang, Central Vietnam, in March 2017. This tournament is conducted by the Indian golf union.

Tvesa Malik

Amrita Anand

Corporate Golf

10 ciTy BT Pro-am comPleTes lucknow and hyderaBad legs After the inaugural leg in Chandigarh, the 10 city LLOYD Business Today Pro-Am of Champions moved to Lucknow and Hyderabad in October.

Palms Golf Course played host to over 70 golfers in Lucknow where the team of of Prem Prakash, Dr. Apurva Mehra (Surya Dental Centre), Ashish Mitra and Neeraj Gupta (Data Team) emerged champions with a combined score of 104 points.

The Hyderabad leg was played at

Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA) heritage golf course in the Golconda Fort complex among 89 golfers. Dhiraj Jaiswal (CAT Technologies), L K R Reddy (CAEL Technologies), Umapathi Reddy (Card Box) & Vasu Merugu (NCR) came on top with a combined score of 105 points.

Crowned as Lucknow Lancers and Hyderabad Hurricanes for their victory, the winners have earned themselves a place in the Pro-Am national finals to be held in New

LUCKNOW Winners (L-R): Nipun Singhal (LLOYD), Dr. Apurv Mehra, Prem Prakash, Neeraj Gupta and Neeraj Sahu (Sahu Group)

32 golf digest india | december 2016

Delhi in February next year.

Anupam Mittal (H’cap Category 0-14) & Neeraj Gupta (15-24) from Lucknow and Vasu Merugu (0-14) & Ghouse Mohiuddin (15-24) from Hyderabad topped the leaderboard in the individual category in their respective handicap divisions. The individual winners will travel to Thailand with other winners from the same category from other cities for the LLOYD BT International Leg.

HYDERABAD Winners (L-R): L K R Reddy, Nipun Singhal, Vasu Meregu, Dhiraj Jaiswal and Umapathi Reddy

Junior Special InsIde 34 Predicting Success 36 Play Like A Kid Again 40 16-Year-Old Wiz Kid Rayhan Thomas 42 US College Golf – Is It For You? 43 Ultimate Golf Carnival

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44 Albatross International

9-year-old Aryaman Singh did exceptionally well in the last two years in the IGU Western India sub-juniors

33 golfdigest.com | month 2016

Photograph by First Lastname

India Digest Junior Special

Present Perfect, Future Uncertain

Too much limelight & parental pressure can ruin the future careers of child prodigies

By Rohit BhaRdwaJ rohit@teamgolfdigest.com

T

iger Woods became the youngest ever winner of the annual World Junior Championship, San Diego, in 1991 and was one of those exceptional kids who consistently won every junior division (9-10, 11-12, 13-14 & 15-17) at the championship before going onto greatness on the PGA Tour. However, Tiger was clearly an exception. A close look at the San Diego Junior World Championship winners’ roster since 1968 startlingly reveals that 9 out of 10 of the winners were unable to achieve success in the professional ranks.

Most of them didn’t even turn professional and instead went into various other careers ranging from fitness training, coaching and even photography.

In the history of the Junior World Championships since 1968 only a handful could translate their talent into substantial Touring pro success. John Cook (winner in 1975), Billy Mayfair (1976), Corey Pavin (1977), Phil Mickelson (1980), Ernie Els (1984), David Toms (1984 – boys 15-17) and Notah Begay III (1987) were the few names who could be recognized as going onto pro success besides Tiger.

Amongst the girls, LPGA Hall of Famer Amy Alcott (1970, 13-14 age group), , and former World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa (1991) of Mexico stand out. Most of the other winners like Trinidad’s Maria Nunes, who won the girls’ 11-12 title in 1979, chose photography over golf as a career.

More common are stories like that of American Jonathan Baker, the 1981 boys’ 13-14 champion, who eventually settled for a club pro job despite being hailed at the time as the biggest thing to happen to golf after the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. He won the World Juniors by a huge margin of 15 strokes and even appeared on TV as a “child prodigy”, commentating alongside legends like Gary Player.

Something similar happened to highly acclaimed Filipino born junior world champions Ramon Brobio (1985 – boys 1314) and Carito Villaroman (1985-86 – boys 15-17), who’s pro careers turned out to be lack lustre. The lesson to be learned is how difficult it is to predict success even when a child shows a lot of promise at a young age.

In golf, perhaps more than any other sport,

34 golf digest india | december 2016

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are some of the very few players who won the World Juniors and went onto PGA Tour greatness

The age at which a youngster can genuinely be seen to be a potential world class pro is at the age of 1718 years and only if by that time they are regularly winning top class international amateur tournaments.

Any judgement or prediction prior to this level is premature and unfair on the child. its almost impossible to predict success.

Therefore parents and mentors of youngsters need to stop positioning the kids as future superstars because if the kids fail to achieve eventual professional success, they could then see themselves as failures and be incapable of dealing with their fall. Its better for parents to teach kids not to expect too much from themselves and instead take ups and downs in their stride.

For little kids who are champions at ages 9-13, when these kids reach 15 or 16 years of age, most other kids start catching up with them and then the entire ‘prodigy’ bubble bursts, bringing with it depression and the sense of being a ‘failure’.

The age at which a youngster can genuinely be seen to be a potential world class pro is at the age of 17-18 years and only if by that time they are regularly winning top class international amateur tournaments ( like Aditi Ashok had done in 2015) and actually

Junior Special finishing in the top 20 in Asian level professional tournaments. As a study of historical data from any major international junior championship will show, Any judgement or prediction prior to this level is premature and unfair on the child.

PARENTAL PRESSURE

A certain “child prodigy” from the 1990’s out of Delhi was even compared to a young Tiger Woods for his stellar performances as a young teen. However, too much pressure from his father and media attention including appearing on the cover of India’s leading news magazine eventually made him abandon the sport once he got to college in the US. Even today, there are kids being relentlessly forced into the media spotlight including on TV shows with celebrities etc. Probably those kids’ families, especially if from simple backgrounds may already believe their child is sure to become a “crorepati”. What happens if for some reason the child cannot deliver ?

Will that child and the family be looked on as a “failure” forever after by the extended families, village and friends ?

A close look at the San Diego Junior World Championship winners’ roster since 1968 startlingly reveals that 9 out of 10 of the winners were unable to achieve success in the professional ranks.

Our kids are the stars of the future, but let’s not make them one before they have accomplished something exceptional at a mature age. Parents should restrain themselves from expecting too much from the younger kids. Because if they eventually are not able to shine on the adult level they shouldn’t feel they have let down their families.

thE SEvEn immutablE lawS of buying your kid clubS 1

If you do only one thing right, take the time to get junior a decent wedge with a soft flex shaft and proper grip size. Nothing breeds confidence and enjoyment like getting good with the short game. So make sure the putter fits, too.

2

Five clubs is plenty to start.

One wood, a high-lofted hybrid (22 degrees or more), a 7-iron, wedge and putter will provide enough distance gaps so your offspring can always take aim at the range picker.

6

If your son’s or daughter’s first set costs more than a quarter of what you paid for your irons, it’s either too much or you need new irons.

7

The brand-name golf balls of their heroes are fine. Get junior a Sharpie pen and have him mark his just like the pros do. But if he starts signing visors, make him weed the garden.

—Mike Stachura

Too heavy is just as harmful as too long. As Ping’s Bill Iseri says, “It’s better to have your child grow out of clubs than grow into them.”

India’s highest-ranked golfer Anirban Lahiri, five-time Asian Tour champion Gaganjeet Bhullar and seasoned pro Rahil Gangjee

Tips for Parents

1

Parents should exercise restraint and not expose their children to the media. It is detrimental to the growth of the child as a golfer as they become complacent and start thinking too highly of themselves. It’s better to avoid media as it helps the child to focus better on the task at hand.

3

Some parents start talking negatively about their kids in front of other parents or children. Please don’t do that as it hurts the child’s self-esteem. It may stop him from putting his best efforts.

illustration: andrew rae; Courtesy GolfdiGest us

5

Pradeep Aggarwal is a mind coach, NLP trainer and hypnotist who has worked with

do not put pressure on the kid. Some parents start scolding their kids or shouting at them if they play poorly on a certain day. Let the kids learn from their mistakes.

Too much pressure may force the kids to resort to cheating and being untruthful. It’s better to make them enjoy the game.

Other than the putter, there’s no reason for any club with less than 15 degrees of loft. At least until your youngster is reaching greens in regulation. Not a bad rule for you, either.

Fit by height, not age. U.S. Kids Golf founder and CEO Dan Van Horn says a driver that stands taller than two inches below the sternum encourages bad swings and less fun.

Thatapplies to golfers of any age, so Dad might want to reconsider his 46inch driver, too.

pErt SpEak Ex

2

3

4

India Digest

4

ask kids about the best shot of the day/round. Ask them where they made birdies or good par saves. It helps them focus on the positives and they can begin the next day with more self-belief.

5

Parents who accompany their children to the course should remain emotionally neutral. Do not criticize or make negative gestures to the kids. Cheer him always.

For more details visit www.pradeepaggarwal.com

december 2016 | golf digest india

35

Junior Special

play like a kid again What adults

can learn from the best little tournament players in the world

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b y k e e ly l e v i n s

36 golf golfdigest.com digest india| |month december 2016 2016

Photograph by First Lastname

f i l i p g r av e / 8 bunkeflostrand / sweden

7-year-old with a smoother action than you. Second, and apologies for sounding judgmental, but I was worried some of the parents could be, well, a little nuts.

One of these fears came true: These kids are darn good. Sihan Sandhu from Virginia shot 23 under par to win the 10-year-old boys division. That’s 23 under, over three rounds, on a course set up at 5,201 yards. That’s probably about the distance of the forward tees at your course.

The other fear was misplaced. Sure, many of these parents have spent a lot of money on their kids’ golf careers, from travel to equipment to swing coaches.

I met one boy from Hungary who travels with his family to the south of Spain for a month during the winter to practice. One girl from India had a swing coach and a trainer. But after sitting down with 30 kids and their parents, overwhelmingly, I found the kids to be the ones driving the need to play golf.

“She wants to practice every day,” David Errichetto told me about his daughter, Isabella, 9. “I try to take her to the course only a few days a week, but then she’ll be out in the back yard practicing by herself. I can’t stop her.”

Carson Higginbotham, 7, from Clarksburg, W.Va., was my first interview. Fearing I’d intimidate him by sitting down with my notebook and pen, I offered to have a putting contest while we talked with my tape recorder running. I asked if he had any drills he liked. “I don’t like drills,” he said in his sweet Southern twang. “I just like hammering it.”

From there, the interview quickly turned into Carson spending all of his energy seeing what would happen if we putted balls down a set of stairs at the Carolina Hotel. I was able to briefly break his focus to get more insight. t h e r i t t e r t r i p l e t s o f n e w a l b a n y, ohio, with big sis, from left: alex / 9 ethan / 9 / anna / 12 / huston / 9.

the first week of au gu st in Pinehurst, there’s a tradition unlike any other. This year, 1,552 players representing 52 countries came to take on 10 courses.

It’s the major of all junior majors: the U.S. Kids World Championship. Perhaps you saw the Netflix documentary “The Short Game,” which followed a group of competitors and their parents at the 2012 tournament. The kids compete in nine- and 18-hole events, and everyone plays three rounds. Remember when you were 6? You probably weren’t grinding out 27 holes of stroke play.

I’d flown from New York with the idea I’d see what made golf click for these kids. Gratification these days is as immediate as a like on Instagram, so why are all these youngsters choosing a game that takes so much time and effort? And just how did they get so good?

To be honest, I had reservations. First, I was worried about hanging out with a bunch of kids who can kick my butt on the golf course. It doesn’t feel good to see a

it doesn’t feel good to see a 7-year-old with a smoother action than you.

When it comes to putting, “I don’t like thinking about break,” Carson says. “If you hit it hard enough, there’s never any break.”

Not every kid took such a valiant attitude, but each did cite the short game as the most important part of playing.

“I love practicing short game because a lot of people who hit long balls get up to the green and they’re a mess,” says Madison Moman, 9, from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Though she doesn’t always need her short game— she’s had three holes-in-one.

Every kid seemed to offer some spin of the same advice: Short game is going to help you score, so you have to practice it. End of story. Though some had particular methods.

“When I go out and practice on the putting green, I just use one ball,” says Thady White, 8, from Brighton, England. “You only have one ball on the course.

You don’t have 60 million balls on the course.” december 2016 | golf digest india

37

Junior Special

Either these kids have teachers who have synthesized the game really well for them, or there’s something about a child’s brain that’s especially deft at filtering what’s going to help during a round from what isn’t. And when it comes to finding that balance of staying happy and focused, Tommy Morrissey, 5, of Palm Beach Gardens, has a practical answer.

“Put on music and dance to have more fun,” Tommy says. He recommends such tunes as “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, “My House” by Flo Rida, and anything that Bruno Mars sings. Tommy is used to giving interviews. Born with one arm, Tommy has a unique golf ability and has garnered social-media fame, magazine articles, television appearances and invitations to perform in exhibitions.

Some kids stressed the importance of being selective with playing partners. As much as you can, you want to play with people who make you feel good about your game and yourself. Few things are better than golf with siblings.

I met the cute O’Grady sisters from Meath, Ireland, Niahm, 7, and Caoimhe, 10. They were that perfect combination of nervous and giddy about the tournament.

“The best swing tip I ever got is to hold my follow-through,” Caoimhe (pronounced Kwee-vah) says. “Sadly, I have to give my dad credit for that one.”

For parents, having two kids in the U.S. Kids World Championship is manageable. If they don’t tee off at the same time, the dad (the preferred caddie for the majority of players) can caddie for both. If the tee times happen at the same time, Mom or a coach can sub anushka borkar / 12 in. But there’s no combination bangalore / india of tee times that can help the Ritters from Ohio. They have a 12-year-old daughter, Anna, and her brothers Alex, Ethan and Huston, 9-year-old triplets.

I could hear the triplets coming before I saw them —half a dozen little feet make for a mini-stampede. The four siblings sat in a semi-circle around me, the triplets’ swinging legs too short to touch the ground. The boys laughed at their inside jokes while Anna sat patiently. The triplets told of being grouped together in a tournament. There was no way the three could play together quietly, so they were advised to separate while walking down each hole. One walked on the far right side of the fairway, one on the far left and one in the middle. “It’s so we don’t smack-talk too much,” Alex says.

Their answers to my questions flowed, like one continuous sentence with three clauses.

“My best swing thought is, Slow down.” “Swing all the way through.” “Focus on the target is the best swing tip someone gave me.”

Anna likes having putting contests with her younger brothers because that’s the best part of her game. They’ve got her outnumbered, but she can still put them in their places on the putting green. “They influence me to practice more, so I can still beat them on the golf course,” Anna says.

Besides keeping one’s distance from potentially raucous playing partners, I heard other experienced tournament strategies.

“Don’t get upset over bad shots,” says Matilde Modesti, 7, from Rome. “If it doesn’t work, you have to keep going. It’s frustrating, but you can’t get upset.” Her mom helped out when we hit linguistic bumps. Matilde plays a lot of links golf. I asked her if she has to swing differently on links courses. She said, “Like this,” and stood up to take a swing in the air. Ball position was back, wrists farther ahead, her hips bumped forward on the way through, arms low at the finish. A textbook knockdown shot.

My favorite question to ask each kid was what adults need to do to improve.

“Adults need to stop playing money games,” Thady says. “If you’re putting so much

‘adults should stop playing money games.’

money out there, you get too into the money instead of playing the game. I do play for Skittles sometimes—and it doesn’t help my game. It’s better to just play normal golf.

That’s how you get better.”

“Adults don’t practice enough,” Caoimhe says. “They’ve got other stuff to do. But they’d be better if they could practice more.”

“They break down their left arm,” says Isabella, who didn’t stop smiling the entire interview, or probably the entire week. “And sometimes they take it back too far. But the ball goes so far, I don’t know how adults do that.”

“Adults try to swing way too hard. They need to slow it down and really think about what you have to do instead of going crazy and hitting it as hard as you can,” says Samantha Olson from Phoenix. “They don’t want to try it because they think it will go so tiny, but it actually works. It’ll go farther and straighter and prettier!”

Samantha’s only 11 years old but knows what she wants to do when she grows up: teach golf.

“A lot of grown-ups struggle with saying bad words on the golf course,” says Aiden Dinani, 7, from Upland, Calif. “I started giving them penalties for saying bad words. That’s the best way to get them to stop.” Aiden wasn’t so sure of me at first. He didn’t want to chat; he wanted his iPad charged. His dad promised to find an outlet after Aiden agreed to talk to me.

Several kids made me feel silly about the questions I asked. Like, “Do you know how to hit a flop shot?” I thought it was a fair question because, hey, flop shots are hard.

“Of course I can hit a flop shot,” Carson said. I asked him how.

“Just use your lob wedge.”

That’s an attitude we all could, and should, adopt. Imagine how much better your game would be if you applied that mind-set to everything: Of course I can hit the fairway; I’ll just use my driver.

To play like a kid again, you have to have a little of that reckless abandon that lets you hit the scary shots. You also have to walk around with a bit of a swagger, preferably in an outfit that matches. You have to be so in the moment that you’re not thinking about what you’re doing or what a bad shot could mean a few holes from now. You have to embody the attitude that each young player that I talked to had: Golf is the best, most fun, coolest thing you get to do all day.

And it should be treated as such.

Our games would all be better off if we followed in their confident—though tiny—footsteps.

—thady white, 8, england

38 golf digest india | december 2016

a l l a n k o u r n i k o va 1 2 / pa l m b e a c h : “in tournaments, i don’t think much. i j u s t s w i n g i t. ” niahm and caoimhe o ’ g r a dy / 8 a n d 1 0 m e at h / i r e l a n d niahm: “my dad s ay s n e r v e s a r e g o o d f o r yo u . i’m not sure

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i believe him.”

Photograph by First Lastname

month 2016 | golfdigest.com

39

India Digest Junior Special

rising star

Rayhan Thomas is not just the first amateur golfer to win a MENA Tour event. He’s also a poster boy for the future of golf in both India and the Middle East. In this exclusive interview with one of the most likeable and focused teenagers you could ever meet, Thomas talks pressure playoffs, his love of yoga and the sacrifices required to become one of the best 16-year-old golfers on the planet, writes Robbie Greenfield

Around two years ago, Thomas made the decision at just 14 years of age to make the most out of the considerable talent he’s been blessed with. You can’t lead a normal teenage life and work towards becoming a professional athlete at the same time. For those who try to do both, inevitably it’s the dream that dies. And so Rayhan accepted that in order to achieve his goal of becoming a top golfer, his life would have to be very different to those of his peers.

Last year, Rayhan, together with his parents John and Neena, and coach Justin Parsons, took the difficult decision to leave school and continue his studies at home through an online course that gave him the freedom to focus on golf and play tournaments without skipping classes.

The academic adjustment has been a relatively straightforward one for this bright young man, but leaving his friends behind was the real wrench. “That was the biggest sacrifice I made, giving up a big part of my social life. I miss my friends a lot,” he told us during last month’s shoot. “But then when a win comes along and you get to experience that feeling, it’s worth it.”

And what a win it was. Last month at his home course, Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Rayhan made history when he became the first amateur golfer to win a MENA Tour event, on the occasion of the tour’s 50th tournament. It has long ceased being a surprise to see Thomas’ name near the top of a MENA Tour leaderboard, but winning at 16 was a remarkable achievement. golf in DUBAi’s David Spencer called it the ‘most significant thing to happen to golf in the Middle East since Tiger Woods hit balls off the Burj Al Arab in 2004’, and if that sounds like hyperbole, I can add that in 12 years of covering golf in the region, I’ve never seen anything to match it on a local level. Dubai has always had a flair for staging the biggest events, but watching a young Indian lad come through a junior program at the Creek, and then continue to progress to a point where at 16, he has become one

40 golf digest india | december 2016

rayhan’s mantra: when talent works hard, that’s a pretty good combo of the best players on the MENA Tour, puts this region on the map not simply as one of the European Tour’s favourite stop-offs, but as a legitimate producer of exciting golfing talent.

Furthermore, this was no one-off victory on his home track. In the last five MENA Tour events, Thomas’ worst finish is a tie for eighth. Top players are able to score well on every type of golf course, and Thomas’ runner-up and third place finishes in Thailand, together with his even more impressive win at the Scottish Boys tournament last summer, have shown that even at his young age, he has a versatile game.

The most exciting aspect though, is the scope he has for far greater improvement. Thomas will get bigger and stronger, and more technically skilled.

“He’s just so good at playing the game,” says Stephen Hubner, director of golf operations at Dubai Creek. “It sounds like a simple thing to do, but we all know it’s not. Rayhan has that ability to navigate his way around a course in the fewest possible shots, and all the ball-striking prowess in the world can’t buy you that.”

Text & Photograph Courtesy: GD Middle East

Junior Special

India Digest

this year, with all the practice i had put in and the results i was able to achieve in thailand, i went to dubai creek expecting to contend. now that you’ve had time to let the achievement sink in, how do you put into words what winning on the mena tour means for your career? It’s mainly about confidence. It has set a platform for the rest of the season, and going ahead it gives me plenty of confidence for the rest of the MENA Tour and the other amateur events that I’m going to play this year. ooo have you been surprised by your success on the mena tour? Last year did surprise me, yes. Getting into the playoff that I lost at Dubai Creek [to Jake Shepherd] and finishing in the top 15 in a few other events, it came as a bit of a shock. But this year with all the practice I had put in and the good results I had in Thailand, I expected to be able to content this time around. ooo your win created quite a stir, both on the mena tour and in the wider world of golf. The reaction has been amazing from the guys on the MENA Tour who I look up to. Getting recognition from guys like Zane Scotland, Luke Joy and Jake Shepherd has meant a lot. And to have professionals like Thomas Bjorn, Chubby Chandler, Darren Clarke and other Indian golfers like Anirban Lahiri and Jeev Milkha Singh take notice on Twitter, it has been very exciting for me. ooo what has been more important in your evolution as a golfer: learning how to hit the shots or learning how to cope with the pressure? My Dad always said I have the shots, and I have a good imagination when it comes to playing, but I never really developed the mental stability.

I guess at 15 you don’t really have that. So this year I started doing some yoga and focusing on techniques to keep calm and visualise things better. I think that has been a key to the success I’ve had this year. When I hit a bad shot, I try to accept it and move on. I can’t change what’s just happened, so there’s no point smashing my club or tossing my ball in the water. I stay calm and go ahead and play the next shot. When I’m faced with a tough shot or a pressure moment, I’ve worked hard on my inner dialogue, reminding myself that I’ve hit the shot tons of times before, that I’ve done the work and practiced enough to expect to hit a good shot. As a golfer you have to be present. I’ve worked on closing my eyes, focusing on my breathing and paying a lot of attention to the different sounds around me, to be in tune with the environment.

Once I open my eyes, everything is blocked

out and it’s all about the next shot. ooo what are the biggest improvements you have made to your game over the past 12 months? My work ethic has changed dramatically in the last 12-18 months. I’ve put in a lot more hours than I used to. I’ve become stricter with myself and my routine, not just with golf practice but with my diet and my gym work, and that has shown in my progress. At this point I am fine-tuning small things like my mental game, or my short game technique, but nothing drastic. These small things can make a huge difference. I can get better at everything, so there’s room for improvement in all aspects of my game. ooo how do you strike the balance between your studies and your golf career? I’ve started studying from home, which is all online, so I get to travel and

study at the same time. But it’s all about having a routine in place where I know what I’m doing and what I have to focus on.

Whether that be practicing in the morning and studying in the afternoon, or the other way around. And of course having a Mom that’s always behind me and making sure I’m on top of things has been very important! ooo how big a role have your parents played in allowing you to pursue this dream? They’ve put in a lot of time, money and effort in order to give me this opportunity. Everything from taking me to events, to the coaching that’s required and the time to practice and play. But more than that they’ve given me the values and the morals, together with the confidence that I can do something with my life and be a success if I work hard enough. There’s no one in this world that I trust more than my parents and any successes I have in golf, I owe to them.

justin parsons rayhan’s coach

▶ Rayhan has essentially been living like a professional athlete for the last 18 to 24 months. Over that time, he has become increasingly exposed to the kinds of things that professional tour players have to deal with on a daily basis, and as a result, he has made a lot of progress.

getting recognition from guys like zane scotland, luke joy and jake shepherd has meant a lot. december 2016 | golf digest india

41

India Digest Junior Special

US College Golf – Is It For You?

In an interview with Rohit Bhardwaj, Shreya Ghei talks about her experience at Yale University and the challenges she faced to get a golf scholarship GDI: What are the challenges in getting an admission and availing a golf scholarship?

The biggest challenge is for the coaches to assess your capabilities sitting half-way across the world! So one just has to work twice as hard to get in front of them- whether it’s by spamming their inbox, sending them swing videos, tournament updates, playing tournaments in the US or meeting them in person.

Once you’re past that stage, you make their job a lot easier. The second challenge is funding the experience. Most colleges offer athletic scholarships but the amount varies on a case-by-case basis. If the coach wants you on the team, the application form becomes a formality and you are pretty much guaranteed a spot.

GDI: How was your experience of playing college golf?

I had an absolutely amazing experience playing college golf in the US and would highly recommend it to anyone considering it. It really helped take my game to the next level and made me a stronger player and individual. I played in strong competitive fields, on some of the best golf courses and most often in tough weather conditions. So my game had to improve with each season in order to compete and be a part of the traveling team. There is also a big emphasis on strength training which really helped improve my swing, distance and enabled me to carry my bag and play 36 holes!

The four years were challenging to say the least, as I had to balance a full academic course load, 20+ hours of golf every week and sneak in some sleep in between. I also got to meet and take classes with incredible people from around the world, be part of a team and work with a very dedicated coach for four years.

GDI: What are the opportunities that an individual gets to avail playing college golf?

As a student-athlete, you have to juggle your sport, travel, classes, exams and social life.

The four years are not easy but they teach you to prioritise, manage your time efficiently and be a team player- very important life skills. Other than competing on fantastic golf courses, you get the same opportunities as a regular student in terms of access to world class education and professors, internship/employment opportunities, network of friends and other golfers. For instance, I got a chance to spend my summers abroad in London, Istanbul and New York studying and working and got to meet incredibly smart and motivated people in different fields. Your sport is an essential part of your education and thus professors and coaches work with you on your schedule. Whether you choose to pursue golf professionally or work, the experience will hold you in good stead. Most employers really appreciate successful student-athletes as they recognise the hard work and commitment it takes.

Aru AtwAl

It’s very difficult as a parent to send your child to the US. It’s not like UK or Europe, as she will be 24 hours away. Emotional disconnect. Different time zone – when you want to shower your love you can’t do that as she will be sleeping. You can’t help her much even when you want to. It’s a different world out there. Seher has such a packed schedule that she has to practice in the morning and evening, attend college, complete her daily/weekly assignments and even go for NCAA tournaments. No time for her to rest.

You need to maintain your grades, no excuses for failing.

Even though her college is pretty near to my brother-in-law Arjun Atwal’s place, Seher hasn’t been able to visit him in more than three months.

When you want to apply for a golf scholarship the one most important thing is your college coach. In Seher’s case – Julie Garner – her coach is so supportive and helpful that she is able to balance her studies with golf pretty well.

— As told to Rohit Bhardwaj

“When you apply for a golf scholarship the one most important thing is your college coach.”

Shreya Ghei graduated with Bachelors in Economics from Yale University and currently works at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The biggest challenge is for the coaches to assess your capabilities sitting half-way across the world! So one just has to work twice as hard to get in front of them- whether it’s by spamming their inbox, sending them swing videos, tournament updates, playing tournaments in the US or meeting them in person. Once you’re past that stage, you make their job a lot easier.”

42 golf digest india | december 2016

Parent’s View

Seher is studying Sociology/Psychology at Rollins College, Orlando, Florida on a golf scholarship

Junior Special

India Digest

The Ultimate Way To Grow The Game

The skills challenge made it a fun experience for the children

Professional golfer Digvijay Singh with the kids at the golf clinic

Pritam Saikia (L) & Sundeep 'Chimmy' Verma of Ultimate Golf

The Ultimate Golf Foundation team with the young participants

By BHARATH ARVIND bharath@teamgolfdigest.com

The Ultimate Foundation

Setup with the intent to grow the game through Gra ssroots development & make it more accessible

T

he Ultimate Foundation- a trust setup in 2016 by Tour professionals Jyoti Randhawa, Digvijay Singh in association with teaching professionals Sundeep ‘Chimmy’ Verma & Pritam Saikia aims to take the game to the grassroots. In keeping with its mission, the foundation organized the Ultimate Golf Carnival at Golden Greens Golf Club, Gurgaon which saw the participation of over 20 schools and over 180 children in October. Bear in mind, the foundation introduces kids to the game and for these 180 children, this was their first tryst with the game of golf. And what an experience it was!

The foundation is the brainchild of Chimmy & Pritam who came together in 2008 to setup Ultimate Golf & Performance Center at Golden Greens GC to offer golf instruction, fitness, equipment & fitting, tournaments and other services essential to anyone who wants to take up golf and excel at it. Ultimate Golf also runs the Ultimate Golf Junior Tour in Association with U.S Kids Golf & sanctioned by the Indian Golf Union for the past 8 years as well as the Ultimate Golf Amateur Tour - the official amateur development tour of the Indian Golf Union in the North Zone.

Core Team

l Professional gol

8-time Asian Tour winner- Jyoti Randhawa signs autographs for his young fans

Baseball anybody?

Another exciting skills challenge

fers Jyoti Randhawa & Digvija y Singh l Sundeep ‘Chimm y’ Verma (Class A Golf Coach , Ma ster Clubfitter & Clubmake r) & Pritam Saikia ( Class A Golf Coach & Fitness Expert ) l Navita Mansing h (Avid Golfer) l Col ( Retd. ) I.S .Verma ( Class C Golf Coach ) l The foundation plans talent screening for over 300 0 kids (new entrants) in the firs t year l Kids with aptitud e will be identified & trained l Mission to develo p future champions of India l Suppor ted by Ind ian Golf Union, Golden Greens Golf Club & Karma Lakelands

december 2016 | golf digest india

43

India Digest Junior Special

The Albatross Flies High

The 8th Albatross International Junior Golf Championship saw 160 golfers between the ages of 6-17 years from nine countries compete over three days (Nov 9-11) at the ITC Classic Golf Resort, Gurgaon for R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking points

BY BHARATH ARVIND

And here are the winners

“IJGA provides opportunities for junior golfers across the world to compete against their peers from across the world to see where they stand. The goal is to make the Albatross International Junior tournament the flagship event in India for juniors. We offer the best training, education & boarding at our academy in South Carolina. This prepares juniors with an education, improves them as golfers and helps them get placed into a college golf program. We just had an Indian golfer named Arjun Puri who got placed at Columbia University on a scholarship!”

About Albatross Junior Tour

The Albatross Junior tour was founded in 2007 by parents of junior golfers in India with the objective of promoting & developing junior golf across the country. Over the past nine years the tour has grown to 1200 juniors and organises 10 domestic and 4-5 international events each year. The tour is sanctioned by the Indian Golf Union, International Junior Golf Academy, Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Association, and select events count towards R&A World Amateur ranking points.

Patrick O’Toole, Director- International Business Development, International Junior Golf Academy

Monisha Choudhary

Anushka Borkar

44 golf digest india | december 2016

Ananya Barthakur

“International experience is fantastic for the kids, as they get exposed to other cultures and varying levels of competition. Junior golf is a major focus area in Thailand with a lot of competitions being held. The golf federation helps with scholarships and sends kids to the U.S. and other countries. We regularly hold seminars for parents and juniors to explain the demands of life as a touring pro and what options exist to Likit Chaiyakitch, Thailand Junior Golf Federation pursue a career in golf.”

Junior Special

India Digest

Saurav Rathi (R) of Classic Golf Resort Winner: Age 13-14 yrs

IGU President Satish Aparajit awards Australian Phuripon Namkang Winner: Age 15-17

The Indian winners

Result-GiRls

Result-Boys CouNtry

total

INDIA INDIA THAILAND

220 226 227

Name CATEGORY A (AGE 15-17) 1. PHURIPON NAMKANG 2. MANAV BAIS 3. ADIL BIR SINGH

231 231 234

CATEGORY B (AGE 13-14) 1. SAURAV RATHI 2. WANIPUN MEESOM-US 3. HARSHJEET SINGH

THAILAND INDIA INDIA

215 223 226

CATEGORY C (AGE 11-12) 1. WEERAWISH NARKPRACHAR THAILAND 2. PONGSAPAK LAOPAKDEE THAILAND 3. CHANACHON CHOKPRAJATCHAT THAILAND

223 224 229

CATEGORY D (AGE 9-10) 1. VIDHATRI. K. URS INDIA 2. THANANA KOTCHASANMANEE THAILAND 3. NISHNA PATEL INDIA

237 242 253

CATEGORY D (AGE 9-10) 1. ACHIRA CHUMCHAIVATE 2. JUJHAR SINGH 3. THANAWIN LEE

THAILAND INDIA THAILAND

226 229 229

CATEGORY E (AGE 6-8) 1. JIDAPAT SIDDHIRUJIROT 2. ALIN SRIRUT 3. ZARA ANAND

125 126 136

CATEGORY E (AGE 6-8) 1. BHUMKIT PITCHAYASAOWAPAK 2. KIRK SUPAVANICYANON 3. KRISH CHAWLA

THAILAND THAILAND INDIA

108 125 130

Name CATEGORY A (AGE 15-17) 1. AMRITA ANAND 2. ANANYA BARTHAKUR 3. JENNY LAM

CATEGORY B (AGE 13-14) 1. NICHA KANPAI AUSTRALIA 2. PRANAVI S.URS INDIA 3. PACHALIKA ARPHAMONGKOL THAILAND CATEGORY C (AGE 11-12) 1. PHANNARAI MEESOM-US 2. ANUSHKA BORKAR 3. HITAASHEE BAKSHI

team Result

THAILAND THAILAND INDIA

CouNtry

total

AUSTRALIA INDIA INDIA

216 216 222

INDIA THAILAND INDIA

228 229 229

TEAm CATEGORY A/B BOYS 1. ALBATROSS AB BOYS 2 2. MALAYSIA AB BOYS

PlAYER NAmES

SCORE

ADIL BIR SINGH IZZAT SYASMIN BIN AMIRUL

HARSHJEET SETHI YONG FATT HOE

451 458

CATEGORY A/B GIRlS 1. ALBATROSS AB GIRLS 1 2. ALBATROSS AB GIRLS 2

ANANYA BARTHAKUR AMRITA ANAND

ARSHIA MAHANT SHAGUN NARAIN

459 460

CATEGORY C/D GIRlS 1. ALBATROSS CD GIRLS 1 2. THAILAND CD GIRLS

ANUSHKA BORKAR PHANNARIA MEESOM

HITASHI BAKSHI THANANA KOTCHASANMANEE

449 457

CATEGORY C/D BOYS 1. THAILAND CD BOYS1 2. THAILAND CD BOYS2

WEERAWISH NARKPRACHAR THANAWIN LEE

ACHIRA CHUMCHAIVATE PONGSAPAK LAOPAKDEE

449 453

Parents’ Speak l Such international tournaments offer great opportunities for the kids to develop mental strength and learn course management l International exposure is fantastic and if one can afford to, you must take the child to play a few tournaments abroad l Need more sponsorship for the junior tournaments to reduce entry fees as it gets very expensive to play more than 5-6 events in a year l It’s important to identify junior tours that focus on creating a competitive field with forward tees based on age categories to help in the development of the child’s game l Coaches play a critical role in the development and if a parent and child is serious about the game, a coach needs to be identified early on

december 2016 | golf digest india

45

think young, play hard

Serving it up

“I’ve got to work on my backhand if I’m going to switch careers.”

Golf’s rookie of the year says he’d rather be Nadal ’m proud the players voted me PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. The spotlight is something I always wanted to experience.

Any professional athlete who doesn’t like the spotlight, well, maybe it’s not the right job for them.

I

▶ honestly, i wish I were a professional tennis player. I went to the U.S. Open in New York this year after playing in the Barclays tournament.

I watched Rafael Nadal play Mardy Fish and watched all the guys practice. I kept thinking, Wow, I really wish that were me. It’s fun to see how good they are. I’m sure they say the same thing when they come out and watch us play. ▶ wanna talk pressure?

I was 14 years old picking range balls at the Dye Preserve in Florida. This was a few months after I met one of my oldest friends, Steve Marino.

He was 30 at the time and was like 35th on the tour’s money list. I challenged him to a game for $500, but I had only $12 on me. If I’d lost, I had no chance of ever paying him. It came down to the final hole, and I beat him. I was going crazy, jumping up and down. He was pissed and challenged me to another four holes and beat me, so I never got paid. But I remember thinking, This is what I want to do. I thrived on that pressure. ▶ my swing is unique.

Don’t get me wrong.

I think Tiger Woods has a pretty swing, but I also think Daniel Berger has a pretty swing.

Who cares if it’s different than the Adam Scott prototypical golf

swing? It’s just the way I’ve been taught. ▶ after i lost in that playoff to Padraig Harrington at the Honda Classic last February, I went to dinner with a couple of buddies that night. We went to some restaurant that had like 25 TVs on at the bar, and they were all showing me losing. I’m like, Oh, great. Is this what it’s going to be like on TV for the next week? But it was fun. ▶ i’m very ocd. I want certain things to be a certain way. When I’m teeing my ball, I don’t want any loose pieces of grass around. My room is always neat, and my closet is colorcoordinated. I’m very, very organized, and anything that is out of order will throw me off. ▶ i grew up playing almost every sport. I was best at tennis, but I’d go wake-boarding, water skiing. I played competitive soccer, baseball, basketball. There was this one summer when I was 11 that I attended a golf camp. That’s when I fell in love with golf. ▶ i’m the type of person who is like, If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right. At 6 in the morning, before school, my dad would take me to the course, and I’d practice.

Then after school, I’d head back to the course and practice until the sun set. I did that every school day for as many years as I can remember.

But I never watched golf on TV. I was too jealous of them. That’s what I wanted to be. ▶ i can dance. But only if I have a few drinks first.

Ë ADIDAS shorts, $50 shirt, $35 shoes, $160 TAYLORMADE hat, $28

daniel berger / age 22 / resides jupiter, fla. / from south florida noted Sports junkie who still plays everything from soccer to table tennis.

His father, Jay, is a former tennis pro who was ranked as high as seventh in the world in 1990 and is currently head of men’s tennis for the United States Tennis Association. Daniel played golf at Florida State University, tying for second in the 2013 NCAA Championship. On his way to being named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Berger had two runner-up finishes, six top-10s and was the only first-year pro to qualify for the Tour Championship. Berger finished 11th in the FedEx Cup standings. Past rookie-of-the-year winners include Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth.

—INTERVIEWED BY RON kASPRISkE

46 golf digest india | december 2016

Photographed by Dom Furore at the City of Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) Tennis Center.

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India Digest Business of Golf

Monahan is new PGA Tour commissioner After 22 years at the helm, Tim Finchem is retiring as PGA Tour commissioner and handing the reins to Jay Monahan.

Monahan, 46, has served as Finchem’s deputy commissioner since April 2014 and took over as chief operating officer earlier this year. He will take over on Jan. 1 as commissioner.

“I have the highest regard for Jay and have total confidence in his ability to lead the PGA Tour well into the future,” Finchem said of Monahan in September (via USA Today).

“He has been a key member of the executive team since joining the Tour and has worked closely with me on all business matters since becoming deputy commissioner. Jay is well-respected throughout the PGA Tour family and the golf industry. I know he will do a tremendous job for the players and all constituents of the PGA Tour.”

Monahan has enormous shoes to fill.

Under Finchem, purses grew from $50 million to the more than $300 million and the FedEx Cup, Presidents Cup and World Golf Championships were created.

“I have the highest regard for Jay and have total confidence in his ability to lead the PGA Tour well into the future. He has been a key member of the executive team since joining the Tour and has worked closely with me on all business matters since becoming deputy commissioner.”

—Tim Finchem PGA TOUR Announces Formation of Asia Office in Tokyo The PGA TOUR continued its commitment to growing the game of golf in Asia with the formation of an office in Tokyo and the hiring of Masashi Ishii as Vice President and Managing Director. Ishii, a Japan native, is a well-known sports executive who will guide the PGA TOUR’s Japan office’s activities as it increases the TOUR’s business efforts in the country and region.

This office announcement further solidifies the TOUR’s commitment to Asia.

In addition, the PGA TOUR will continue as a supporting organization of the International Golf Federation as Japan prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Kasumigaseki Country Club is the host venue for the men’s and women’s golf competitions, and as it did in Brazil at the recently

completed Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, the TOUR will assist in the planning and operation of both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Ishii previously had been serving as President of the Jupiter Golf Network since 2010, overseeing all aspects of that company’s golf entertainment distribution. Jupiter Golf Network, a PGA TOUR rights holder and broadcaster of PGA TOUR tournaments for more than two decades, is the flagship channel of Jupiter Telecommunications Inc., a company where Ishii has worked for the last 15 years. Prior to joining Jupiter Telecommunications, Ishii coordinated broadcasting rights for golf and tennis properties for IMG Media between 1996 and 2001.

48 golf digest india | december 2016

GolfLan Technology raises $1 million from iSON, YourNest GolfLan Technology Solutions, which owns and operates an online golf community and marketplace raised $1 million from iSON, an Africa-based information technology group, and existing investor YourNest angel fund.

GolfLan will use the funds to expand in overseas market such as Africa, Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The company had previously raised $1 million in 2015 from YourNest and multiple angel investors.

Founded in 2013 by Dhruv Verma, GolfLan claims to have aggregated over 1,000 golf courses across 40 countries where golfers can make bookings from its platform to play golf as well as discover golf equipment and trainers. In the last five years, the company has grown to 20,000 users and seen a 400% increase in revenue in the last 18 months.

In the last 4 years, the number of golf enthusiasts in India has sharply gone up, with about 200,000 people teeing today (playing golf) compared to 30,000 in 2010. The potential for growth is exponential, with just 300 golf courses across the country compared to more than 15,000 in the US. Out of these 300, over 50 have been built in just the last 5 years with around 60% having been built in Tier 1 and 2 towns, highlighting the rapid growth that the sport is witnessing as well as the diverse backgrounds from which the new players are emerging”, said Dhruv Verma This year in July, GolfLan acquired Dubai-based golf technology company, StayPrime, in a $1 million deal.

Business of Golf

India Digest

AWARDED

World Golf Award for Kalhaar Blues & Greens, Ahmedabad The 7425 yards, Par 72 layout, ‘Nicklaus Design’ course was voted ‘India’s Best Golf Course 2016’ at the World Golf Awards in Portugal for the second consecutive year.

The World Golf Awards is a part of the World Travel Awards, which celebrated its 23rd anniversary last year. The award is based on votes by professionals working within the golf travel and tourism industry – senior executives, travel buyers, tour operators,

agents and media professionals. Developed by the Navratna Group, the course complies with the United States Golf Association (USGA) specifications as well as the stringent and exacting standards of ‘Nicklaus Design’, making it one of the most exclusive and prestigious golf courses in the country. The course is spread over 175 acres and is one of the longest Championship golf courses in India. Other Indian winners include Pash

India- India’s best inbound golf tour operator and Golftripz- India’s best outbound golf tour operator.

L-R: Steve Rider, Devang Shah and Pranav Shah of Navratna Organisers & Developers with hosts of the night

Bangalore gets custom-ized A high-end custom golf club fitting facility, Pin High Performance Fitting Center (PFC), created by master club fitter Krishna Prasad (KP), is situated next to Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) golf course in Bangalore. The store incorporates internationally certified technology with Fightscope Launch Monitor which addresses Shaft and Club head fitting, length fitting and lie/ loft adjustments.

The facility also uses professional grade tools for club performance upgrades and repair. With only a handful of quality club fitters in the country, a top notch facility was much needed. This store is going to help a lot of amateur club golfers looking to reduce a few shots in their game. Do drop in the next time you are in Bangalore.

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

India Digest Corporate Golf

World Final Thrills Indian Trio

World Final participants from over 60 countries visited the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen

W

ith around 60,000 players competing every year in over 60 countries, MercedesTrophy is an international amateur golf series with one common goal for all participants: qualification for the MercedesTrophy World Final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Rajeev Mittal, Ajit Parmar and Manish Jaitha qualified for the World Finals from the 17th MercedesTrophy India after coming on top out of 2500 amateur golfers across 12 cities. The world finals were held at the Schloss Nippenburg Golf Club and the Solitude Golf Club in Stuttgart, where the winners were determined over 54 holes. Battling against cold conditions, the trio helped India with a creditable 16th place finish out of 32 teams as team France took top honors.

Apart from a first-rate golf experience, the golfers were treated to a visit to the MercedesBenz plant in Sindelfingen. Post this, the participants delved into the history of the three-pointed star in the MercedesBenz Museum. Another highlight of the world final experience was the presence of two times major champion Martin Kaymer who competed against all participants in the “Beat the Pro” competition. “The MercedesTrophy is an important pillar of our global golf involvement,” says Dr Jens Thiemer, Head of Marketing MercedesBenz Cars. “The MercedesTrophy World Final is the annual highlight of the tournament series and offers our customers a unique brand experience, thereby strengthening customer loyalty as well as the perception of our brand as a global partner in the sport of golf.”

50 golf digest india | december 2016

L-R: Manisha Jaitha, Manish Jaitha, Kim Parmar, Ajit Parmar, Rajeev Mittal, Sonal Bharadwaj (Mercedes-Benz India) and Astha Mittal

The hospitality from Mercedes-Benz was outstanding. They took very good care of not only the players but their partners as well. All arrangements were impeccable. Unfortunately for us Indians since we don’t usually play in those conditions- 4 degrees it was at one point, there was an obvious difficulty in playing golf. All in all it was a great experience with no complaints. Only complaint is that we could’ve played better golf!

—Manish Jaitha

Corporate Golf

The Mercedes plant and museum visit were fabulous experiences. We had great fun. Although, competition-wise, we didn’t finish as hoped maybe due to cold weather conditions and because we had lower handicap players in our team compared to others. Nevertheless, Hospitality from Mercedes Benz was exceptional as expected. During the team introduction dinner, we had one of the best entrances of the night- hoisting the Indian colors and dancing. Absolutely amazing!

—Ajit Parmar

Ajit Parmar strikes a pose

India Digest

The finalists delved in to the rich history of Mercedes-Benz

Manisha Jaitha with two time Major champion Martin Kaymer

MercedesTrophy Ind ia 2017 to kick off at Oxford Go lf Resort from 5th January.

For more details ple ase visit mercedestrophyind ia.co.in

Rajeev Mitral tees off

My experience at the Mercedes World final is a memorable one! Something money can't buy. From the time we arrived in Stuttgart, every moment was exciting. The feeling of competing under the Indian colors is unique -fills you with patriotism and motivates you to play your best. Its unmatched. Mercedes was a great host and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience on and off course with the Mercedes Benz plant Tour and museum visit. Met some great people and made news friends. —Rajeev Mittal december 2016 | golf digest india

51

India Digest Corporate Digest

‘Not Just A Sport But A Lifestyle Statement’

B P Kumar Babu is a first generation entrepreneur who has successfully helmed Cornerstone Properties and a host of other enterprises within the real estate sector. Golf Digest india caught up with him to learn more about his passion for golf

By Vineet Mann vineet@teamgolfdigest.com GDI: When did you start playing golf and what do you like about the game?

I got my membership at KGA in 2004 and that’s when I started playing the game. Golf relaxes my mind and energizes my thoughts.

It’s a sport for life. The smell of the freshly cut grass, the sound of a crisply struck iron shot gives you a high!!

GDI: Cornerstone Properties has associated with Cornerstone Cup Karnataka Golf Festival, how did that come about and what are your future plans for the event?

Golf as a game gives us the right connect with both B2B and B2C. Golf is not just a sport but a lifestyle statement. The crème de la crème of Bangalore was present during the 4 days of the event and provided us with excellent and focused branding opportunities for Cornerstone as a Corporate entity.

GDI: What do you think is the potential of Karnataka as a golf tourism destination?

Golf Tourism in Karnataka holds tremendous potential especially due to the salubrious climate Bengaluru offers. With the Karnataka government adding golf tourism to its tourism policy and offering incentives to set up golf courses across the State, this move could help bring in golf enthusiasts from other parts of the country and abroad.

GDI: Does cornerstone plan to create sports facilities in future projects? Do you feel sports facilities add a lifestyle element to housing?

Sports amenities by default have become hygiene factors in most residential projects.

We offer amenities like Tennis, Badminton and Golf Putting Green in our projects and these add the lifestyle angle to them.

GDI: What is the concept of a “Sports city”?

Cornerstone has proposed a Project to bring all possible Sports Facilities and Entertainment, under one destination called “Integrated Sports City” in Bengaluru.

52 golf digest india | december 2016

B P Kumar Babu, Chairman & Managing Director, Cornerstone Properties

Golf course development is considered to be very profitable as it fetches high margins. The marketability of a property that is 50 to 60 km from the city increases if it has a golf course as the centre of attraction GDI: What do you think of the trend to have a golf course in a real estate project?

Golf courses thriving with real estate have been a trend worldwide. Golf course development is considered to be very profitable as it fetches high margins.

The marketability of a property that is 50 to 60 km from the city increases if it has a golf course as the centre of attraction.

GDI: Who is your favorite golfer?

Tiger Woods GDI: Which is your favorite golf course?

KGA in Bengaluru

SavE ThE DaTE BLOCK YOUR DATE FOR SOUTH ASIA'S LARGEST GOLF INDUSTRY MEET

InDIa GolF Expo 2017

Main Exhibition Area

Interactive panel discussions at the symposium

Giant Pro Shop with leading brands Awards Night Simulator Area

I Dr Farooq Abdullah felicitating Golf Courses

ThE 6Th EDITIon oF SouTh aSIa’S larGEST GolF InDuSTry MEET

6TH INDIA GOLF EXPO 19-20 APRIL, 2017 | DELHI NCR MEET GLOBAL GOLF INDUSTRY EXPERTS

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Exhibitors & Delegates email us on indiagolfexpo@indiagolfexpo.com

Event Mangaed by

India Digest Corporate Digest

Race for Volvo World Golf Challenge 2016 National Final heats up

Charu Sharma at Prestige Golfshire in Bengaluru

Anita Shri Shrimal teeing off

54 golf digest india | december 2016

Syed Kirmani

Corporate Digest

L-R: Varun Berry, Saif Mekhri, Vikram Chandra and Naresh Shah in Bengaluru

Bengaluru Winner (L-R): HB Raju Gowda, Suresh Kumar (CEO, Martial Motors) and Nagesh Allegowda

A

India Digest

L-R: KK Mathew, Austin Roach, Dr. Sanjay Rao and Gaurav Singh in Bengaluru

Chandigarh Winner: Sandeep Gill celebrates with Volvo S 90

fter three initial golf rounds in V i s a k h a p a t n a m , H yd e r a b a d a n d Ahmedabad, the popular Volvo World Golf Challenge 2016 engaged over 300 top corporates and celebrities from Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chandigarh. The fourth leg was held at Tollygunge Club, Kolkata followed by Prestige Golfshire in Bengaluru hosting the fifth one. The tournament moved up north to Chandigarh Golf Club for the sixth leg.

Two winners from each of these three legs have qualified for the national finals to join

Kolkata Winners: Kshitiz Kasera, Dibendu Mohan Roy (CEO, OSL Scandinavia) and Mohan Joshi

other finalists who won the initial three legs. The national final will be held at Jaypee Greens Golf Resort in Greater Noida on December 3.

A total of 16 golfers from 8 rounds will compete in the national final to win two spots in the World Final of the Volvo World Golf Challenge in Beijing, China in April 2017.

The annual World Final sees the participation of club golfers from 40 countries and has been graced by top international pros like Henrik Stenson, Darren Clarke, Thongchai Jaidee and Louis Oosthuizen in the past.

WinnerS Kolkata Khitiz Kasera Manoj Joshi Bangalore HB Raju Gowda Nagesh Allegowda Chandigarh Sandeep Gill Anil Gulati

Volvo World Golf Challenge 2016 Schedule

Jyoti Malhotra (Director-Marketing, Sales and PR, Volvo India) addresses the crowd at Chandigarh Golf Club

DATE

VEnuE

1st October

East Point Golf Club, Visakhapatnam

7th October

Hyderabad Golf Association, Hyderabad

14th October

Kalhaar Blues & Greens, Ahmedabad

21st October

Tollygunge Golf Club, Kolkata

4th November

Prestige Golfshire, Bengaluru

11th November

Chandigarh Golf Club, Chandigarh

18th November

Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai

2nd December

Jaypee Greens Golf Resort, Greater Noida

nATIOnAL FInAL 3rd December Completed legs

Jaypee Greens Golf Resort, Greater Noida december 2016 | golf digest india

55

India Digest Corporate Digest

‘Golf Helps To Build A Rapport With Trade Partners’

C Sasidhar (MD, Krishnapatnam Port Company) recently hosted the “Golden Eagles Golf Tournament” in Hyderabad. Golf Digest India spoke to him to find out the synergy between his port business and golf.

By VINEET MaNN vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

will be entirely developed and the nearby social projects will be ready.

GDI: What prompted Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) to associate with golf?

After his visit to Japan, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh - Chandrababu Naidu wanted to develop a Japanese village in the state and that was how the idea to build a golf course was born. Also, as Nellore district has several industries and an integrated business centre like Sri City, we had several requests from industrialists for a golf course. More importantly, we wanted our port to match global standards in terms of clean air, environment, greenery and sealinked sporting activity. Krishnapatnam Port has a beautiful sea and is a great location for a clean and green golf course. Since our plans are to have a cruise terminal at Krishnapatnam in future, golf as a sport next to a port is a great business proposition and tourist attraction.

GDI: Tell us about the synergy between the planned golf course - CVR Links and port business.

Golf, besides being a popular sport, is also a passionate and indulging game, which enables us to build rapport and camaraderie with trade and business partners in the long term. As we are close and connected to the main Asian markets such as Singapore, China and Korea, which are great golfing nations, it was one of the major reasons for us to start a golf course. We are also looking at building a nice resort at the golf course and are talking to a few global brands for developing it. We want people to play golf, enjoy water sports and go back rejuvenated and relaxed.

GDI: When did you start playing golf?

My association with the game started around four and half years ago and was inspired by close friends of mine. It was their love and passion for the game that showed me the real potential of golf. This revelation, coupled with the advice from some senior players, prompted me to explore the game deeper. I improved with each game and within eight to ten months I had a handicap of 18.

GDI: How does hosting a highprofile event like the Golden Eagles help?

Every golf course normally holds tournaments and since we are developing a links style golf course at our port, we could garner recognition for it through the Golden Eagles Golf Championship. As golf courses do not advertise, such tournaments help in bringing people together, strengthening the camaraderie among the fraternity and making people aware of both – Golden Eagles Championship as well as the CVR Links. So, Golden Eagles is primarily a brand that we are building even before the CVR Golf Links

56 golf digest india | december 2016

GDI: What type of course is envisaged and what is the status of construction?

We are working towards completing the 18hole links course with renowned architects.

As of now, we are ready with 16 holes in our par 3 academy course.

GDI: Which is your favourite golf course in India and abroad?

In India, the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, is my favourite. Abroad, the Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus is extremely appealing for the beautiful weather, location and golfing experience it offers.

GDI: Tell us about Sharmila Nicollet as your brand ambassador?

Sharmila’s passion for golf is evident when playing or interacting with her. She is our country’s premier lady golfer, having more than 12 professional wins and her achievements at a young age speak volumes of her love and passion for the sport. Her growth has a strong resemblance to Krishnapatnam Port, which also rose as one of the youngest new-age ports in a short span of eight years.

GDI: What are your future plans of Krishnapatnam Port?

We have a vision for Krishnapatnam Port to evolve as India’s largest gateway on the East Coast and the port of choice owing to its world-class infrastructure, operational efficiency, excellent hinterland connectivity, unrivalled customer service and focus on eco-friendly growth. The planned port capacity is of 200-250 million tonnes and the container terminal capacity of 2.5 million TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) is the largest in the country. The port has planned and built one of the longest breakwaters in the country, of about 2 km, to allow a 500-metre ship with a draft of 24 metres and 4 lakh tonnes. No Indian port has this facility till now.

We are working towards completing the 18-hole links course with renowned architects.

As of now, we are ready with 16 holes in our par 3 academy course.

Chinta Sasidhar, Managing Director Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited

Women’s Golf

India Digest

100 Years Of Ladies Amateur Golf DGC Set To Stage 100th USHA All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championship From December 12 To 18

By Soni M. SinGh & GaBy JuneJa

I

n 1883, the Ladies Golf Union was founded as the governing body for women’s amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. In the Same year, the first British Women’s Championship was held at Royal Lytham & St Anne golf course as a statement that women golf had arrived.

India, under British Raj at that time, hosted the inaugural All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championship at Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), Kolkata in 1906 under the patronage of Calcutta Ladies Golf Club (CLGC) which was established in 1891.

110 years on, the tournament trophy, a beautiful silver rose bowl is still up for grabs.

The Championship continued, without interruption except for during the World War years, between 1916-1918 and 1939-1944.

The CLGC hosted the Championship till 1969 after which it moved to the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, and then finally to the Delhi Golf Club in 1972. South India hosted it for the first time at the KGA in Bangalore in 2000.

Anjani Desai and Sita Rawlley received the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1972 and 1977 respectively. Then entered Nonita Lall (later Qureshi). Equaling Maureen Duncan

the ony Lancelot Dias presents West Bengal Governer Anth lley Raw Sita to rd awa hip 1976 Champions

Maureen Duncan-Smith walking off the 18th green after her first win in 1965

with the Maureen Duncan-Smith (L) hy 1965 Championship Trop

Sri Lankan golfer Tiru Fernando being congra tulated after her victory

december 2016 | golf digest india

57

India Digest Women's Golf Smith’s feat of six victories over a period of 15 years, she is the only other lady to be conferred the Arjuna Award in golf. She annexed nine Northern India amateur titles and umpteen other national and international titles in her career.

History was made when a 13-year-old teenager from DGC, Gurbani Singh won the championship in 2009. Gurbani now plays college golf in the US for Duke University.

After a significant lull of international challengers, this milestone 100th year of the Championship, to be played from 12-18 December 2016 at the Delhi Golf Club, has attracted players from Scotland, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore.

With the Indian Golf Union and sponsor Usha International who is strongly committed to the development of sports in the country, especially amongst the youth and women, content with only the best, Ladies Committee Chairperson Pauline Singh is leaving no stone unturned to assure all that “Celebrating a Century of Ladies Golf in India” will be an affair to remember.

(Soni M Singh and Gaby Juneja are part of the editorial team for DGC’s monthly newsletter The Green Scene)

Timeline - All India Ladies Championship

1906: Inaugural champion ship at RCGC 1916-18: Interruption due

to

1939-44: Interruption due

to

World War I

World War II

1955-64: Record seven victories by ‘Bam” GW Ribbons 1965-69: Five consecutiv e victories by Maureen Duncan-Smith

1970: Anjani Desai becam e the first Indian to win the championship

1973-80: Tiru Fernando from Sri Lanka won the title 4 times

1976

-78: Sita Rawlley won the trophy for three con secutive years

All India ladies champions Anjani Desai, Sita Rawlley and Nonita Lall Qureshi were conferred Arjuna Awards for their achievements in women's golf.

Six-time winner Nonita Lall Qureshi

cuts the champions 1990 winner Jan Higgins Gandhi looks on eka Man st cake as chief gue

Look of A CHAMpIoN: y Three time All India Champion Sita Rawlle

58 golf digest india | december 2016

Nonita Lall Qureshi receives trophy from then IGU president Amar Singh and Indu Chaudhri

Women's Golf

India Digest

ALL INDIA LADIES AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS YEAR

VENUE

WINNER

YEAR

VENUE

WINNER

YEAR

VENUE

WINNER

1906

RCGC

Mrs. L. Walker

1951

RCGC

Mrs. F. C. Kidd

1987

DGC

Elizabeth Covell

1907

RCGC

Mrs. Kennedy

1952

RCGC

Mrs. R. L. De Chasal

1988

RCGC

Nonita Lall

1908

RCGC

Mrs. Toungson

1953

RCGC

Mrs. R. W. Wood

1989

BPGC

Seema Sobti

1909

RCGC

Mrs. Holdworth Hung

1954

RCGC

Mrs. E. Lyne

1990

DGC

Jan Higgins

1910

RCGC

Ms. R. Carver

1955

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1991

Tollygunge

Nonita Lall

1911

RCGC

Mrs. A. Windsor

1956

RCGC

Mrs. R. D. Taggard

1992

Tollygunge

Nonita Lall

1912

RCGC

Mrs. Hannford

1957

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1993

DGC

N. Nirmalingam

1913

RCGC

Mrs. L. Walker

1958

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1994

RCGC

Simi Mehra

1914

RCGC

Ms. Boris Chambers

1959

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1995

BPGC

Nonita Lall Qureshi

1915

RCGC

Mrs. Whish

1960

RCGC

Mrs. C. A. Buxton

1996

DGC

Urvashi Sethi

1916

RCGC

Mrs. Hope Stewart

1961

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1997

Tollygunge

Vandana Agarwal

1917

RCGC

Mrs. Hope Stewart

1962

RCGC

Mrs. H. C. Brown

1998

BPGC

Parnita Garewal

1919

RCGC

Mrs. Hope Stewart

1963

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

1999

DGC

Nonita Lall Qureshi

1920

RCGC

Mrs. Hope Stewart

1964

RCGC

Mrs. G. W. Ribbins

2000

KGA

Tuhasani Selvaratnam

1921

RCGC

Ms. Cabbold

1965

RCGC

Mrs. Duncan-Smith

2001

RCGC

Irina Brar

1922

RCGC

Mrs. D.M.A. Lott

1966

RCGC

Mrs. Duncan-Smith

2002

RCGC

Irina Brar

1923

RCGC

Mrs. N. T. Williams

1967

RCGC

Mrs. Duncan-Smith

2003

DGC

Shruti Khanna

1924

RCGC

Mrs. Evers

1968

RCGC

Mrs. Duncan-Smith

2004

KGA

Vandana Agarwal

1925

RCGC

Mrs. Evers

1969

RCGC

Mrs. C. P. Wallis

2005

Tollygunge

Irina Brar

1926

RCGC

Mrs. Evers

1970

RCGC

Anjani Desai

2006

Tollygunge

Irina Brar

1927

RCGC

Mrs. Alan Machbeth

1971

RCGC

Anjani Desai

2007

DGC

Meghna Bal

1928

RCGC

Ms. Campbell

1972

DGC

B. Zomba

2008

Sharmilla Nicollet

1929

RCGC

Ms. S. Marshal

1973

Tollygunge

Tiru Fernando

Eagleton GR

2009

RCGC

Gurbani Singh

1930

RCGC

Mrs. J. Duncan

1974

Tollygunge

Tiru Fernando

2010

RCGC

Mrs. J. N. Duncan

1975

Tollygunge

Tiru Fernando

Kensville G.C

Shreya Ghei

1931 1932

RCGC

Ms. Mac Donal

1976

RCGC

Sita Rawlley

2011

BGC

Gauri Monga

1933

RCGC

Mrs. Duckworth

1977

RCGC

Sita Rawlley

2012

Chandigarh GC

Aditi Ashok

1934

RCGC

Mrs. C. C. Angwin

1978

RCGC

Sita Rawlley

2013

BPGC

Gurbani Singh

1935

RCGC

Mrs. C. C. Angwin

1979

Tollygunge

Mrs. V. Tripathi

2014

Eagleton GR

Aditi Ashok

1936

RCGC

Mrs. A. A. Marne

1980

BPGC

Tiru Fernando

2015

Chandigarh

Gaurika Bishnoi

1937

RCGC

Mrs. De Burgh Morris

1984

DGC

Shiraz Shaheed

1938

RCGC

Ms. A. Wharton

1985

RCGC

Nonita Lall

1939

RCGC

Mrs. J. Y. Baxendine

1986

BPGC

Ranjit Gerewal december 2016 | golf digest india

59

India Digest Women’s Golf

DGC Celebrates Women’s Golf

By Vineet Mann vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

D

elhi Golf Club hosted the USHA 7th DGC Ladies Amateur Golf Championship 2016 in November as one of the many annual features on the club’s calendar further promoting women’s golf. With over 105 ladies competing, it was 16-year-old Diksha Dagar, the No. 1 ranked lady amateur golfer in the country, who took the title with an impressive wire-to-wire victory. Diksha has been riding high on confidence after she finished as the leading amateur in 47th place overall in the recent Hero Women’s Indian Open competing in a strong field that included a strong contingent from the Ladies European Tour.

The scratch handicapper hailing from Army Golf Course (AEPTA), Dhaula Kuan, in Delhi carded rounds of +2, +4 and level par for a 54-hole total of six-over 222 to claim a four-stroke victory over 15-year-old Sifat Sagoo who was competing on her home turf.

The scores also saw Diksha and Sifat finish on top in the Usha Junior Girls section (for under-18 girls). “I feel great. DGC is a challenging course and I am very happy to win this tournament for the first time. More so because I played all three days without a caddy and I won! We play on the IGU circuit all the time without a caddie plus I have played DGC many times before.

Diksha, a class 10 student of Mount St. Mary’s School in New Delhi, is also part of the Indian Golf Union’s (IGU) ladies national squad along with Sifat. The event also marked the 29th anniversary of USHA’s association with ladies amateur golf which began in 1988 when Late Sita Rawlley (then Captain, DGC Ladies Committee) approached Siddharth Shriram from USHA to sponsor the “Ladies Northern India Championship”.

Siddharth Shriram who has been recently elected as the president of the club stressed on the need to promote women’s golf while remebering Sita Rawlley.

“We all miss Sita very much. All ladies here should thank Sita Rawlley who was instrumental in getting the recognition that Women’s amateur golf needed. We owe so much to her. There is still a long way to go and the most important thing is to give women greater opportunities to play and develop.

Men have dominated this game for centuries in terms of sheer numbers, however men and women have equal rights and playing opportunities- this is the message we want to send out to promote the game.”

“The event also marked the 29th anniversary of USHA’s association with ladies amateur golf which began in 1988.”

60 golf digest india | december 2016

Chhaya Shriram (USHA International) awards the championship trophy to Diksha Dagar

Sifat Sagoo misses on the title by 4 strokes

Anika Verma finished in third place

L-R: Sunita Kataria, Neelam Rudy, Pam Bhagat, Diksha Dagar and Wg. Cdr. Arun Singh (DG, Indian Golf Union)

Women’s Golf

India Digest

GALLERY GATHERS ON THE 18th: Keenly awaiting the finish

Organising Committee: L-R (Standing) - Meena Khana , Nutan Kataria, Anuva Saurabh, Neeraj Ghei, Sita Nanda, Bubbles Suneja, Monica Tandon, Mala Bawa (Sitting)- Aru Atwal, Sonaal, Ashwini Pai Bahadur and Devika Kapur

Champion Diksha Dagar congratulated by supporters

Tribute Sita Rawlley

An exemplary women who guided golfers of my generation with grace, generosity and fortitude.Sita Rawlley's spirit will continue to live on.

—Champika Sayal, Secy. Gen, WGAI She was a path breaker for women's Golf in India.

She was one gutsy lady, courageous and strong.

Her legacy for us is to be passionate about what one does in life.

—Kavita Singh (President WGAI)

DGC ladies gather in large numbers to celebrate the event

Photograph Courtesy Jagdish KotiyWa

Winners strikes a pose with club ladies

DGC Captain Gen KMS Shergil and Ramesh Kohli

DGC President Siddharth Shriram and Rana Alam

december 2016 | golf digest india

61

India Digest Tête-à-Tête

‘States should offer unattended land for golf course development’

By VineeT Mann vineet@teamgolfdigest.com

A

t the time when there were just a handful of private golf clubs in India, he brought in international course designers to give the golf course development sector a massive push. Pradeep Jain was instrumental in the construction of ITC Classic Golf Resort (the first international standard 27-hole championship golf course) in 1992 designed by Jack Nicklaus in India and also The Laburnum, one of the first landmark high-end residential projects. An MBA & MS from Texas, USA, he is attributed with pioneering the development of high-end residential and leisure realty in India. As chairman emeritus of Silverglades Ltd he conceptualized and developed the first golf centric gated community in India called The Tarudhan Valley Golf Resort near Manesar in Haryana. Currently, he is involved in the development of the 280-acre Imperial Golf Estate in Ludhiana, which is surrounded by an 18-hole world-class golf course designed

by Nicklaus Design. In a freewheeling chat with Vineet Mann, Jain spoke about the challenges faced by golf course developers and the scope of golf tourism in the country.

Edited excerpts:

Tête-à-tête with

Pradeep Jain

GDI: How did you get into golf course development?

After returning from USA, whilst I was considering applying for membership of Delhi Golf Club (DGC), I was informed that the waitlist is more than 20 years. That is when I explored the possibility of getting into Real Estate with Golf as a USP. I had seen such developments during my stay in Dallas, USA. After market research and exploring number of such projects, especially in and around Delhi, I realised that there was a big void for such a project and complex especially in and around Delhi.

GDI: What are the essential elements of a golf course project to be successful according to you?

The most important element of golf course is availability of contiguous land with sufficient water and good soil.

62 golf digest india | december 2016

Anubhav Jain and Pradeep Jain

GDI: What are the critical steps of golf course construction?

First, you have to put together a business and financial model for a golf project development. Golf course per se don’t make money.

It is the real estate around it that makes financial feasibility of the project.

GDI: What are the various developmental issues/challenges that golf course developers face in India?

The first biggest challenge is availability of contiguous land. Approx. 140 acres are

“State Governments should focus on waste & wet lands and lands that have been left unattended to do joint ventures with the project developers”

Tête-à-tête

India Digest

On A GOlf HOlIdAy! l-R: Pradeep Jain with wife Abha and son Anubhav

The 280 acre Imperial Golf Estate in ludhiana boasts of a picturesque lake between 14th and 15th holes

required for 18 hole champion golf course and thereafter related government and statutory approvals. Thirdly, getting a good golf course construction contractor. There is an acute shortage of golf course construction machinery, equipment and trained technical personnel.

GDI: How many new golf developments do you see happening in the country in next few years? What are the potential projects do you see in next few years?

Golf course construction has become very popular now in India. All the state governments see the necessity to build golf course in their state to promote international tourism. Since international tourists are golf players, such international courses promote not only the golf course destination but also tourism to that state. Also golf tourism have become very popular internationally. Golf tournaments are held all over the world, new golf courses are big attraction for such golf tourism. Each state should build at least 4 to 5 golf courses because not only it promote tourisms and brings foreign exchange, golf courses become lungs to the urban cities.

States which are looking at developing golf courses in the future are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

“Each state should build at least 4 to 5 golf courses because not only does it promote tourism and bring in foreign exchange but also courses become lungs to the cities” GDI: What would it take, from a developer stand point, for golfing facilities to emerge in large numbers to enable the game to the masses?

For golfing facility to become popular it is important that the state governments should offer lands for such developments.

The most difficult part for the development is to accumulate contiguous land for the golf course.

State Governments should focus on waste and wet lands and lands that have been left unattended to do joint ventures

with the project developers to promote such projects. Not only golf course would add as lungs to the cities but would also become very attractive for the citizens of all ages.

GDI: How do you incorporate sustainable and eco-friendly practices into development? Can you cite some examples?

It is possible to have golf course that do not require pesticide and insecticide which would pollute the environment. There are alternate organic materials are available which could sustain golf course and its maintenance e.g., Neemkhali, treated sewer water, water harvested from drainage system and rain water harvesting.

GDI: Who are the various architects that you’ve partnered with? What do you look for in an architect that you are planning to work with?

We have tied up with Jack Nicklaus USA, Graham Cook – Canada, Phil Ryan – Australia and there are lot more freelancing golf course designers and architects what we work with. We select the architect and the design, on the basis of the requirements and the standards of the golf course that one wants to build. Since their fees vary from US $100,000 to 2 million, it’s important to select appropriate architect/designer.

december 2016 | golf digest india

63

On the European Tour

STEnSon claImS SEconD racE To DubaI TITlE

H

enrik Stenson won the Race to Dubai for the second time after a brilliant final round at Jumeirah Golf Estates confirmed his status as European Tour Number One. The Open champion closed his season with a seven under par 65 in the DP World Tour Championship, which was won by Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.

Stenson's Race to Dubai success brought the curtain down on a season in which he became the first Swede to win a major with his triumph at Royal Troon in July and claimed an Olympic silver medal.

That breakthrough major title along with his BMW International Open win in Germany and three other top two finishes helped Stenson top the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex ahead of Masters Champion Danny Willett.

Stenson's victory in the Race to Dubai also secured an additional $1.25 million bonus from the $5million Bonus Pool awarded to the top ten at the season's end.

Having previously won the Race to Dubai in 2013, Stenson becomes only the third continental European and 12th player in total to finish Number One on more than one occasion, joining the likes of Seve Ballesteros Bernhard Langer, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie, and Sir Nick Faldo.

“I'm very pleased to get my name on this trophy once again,” said Stenson. “It's been a great year, the best year of my career. I've always thought it was going to be hard to top 2013, but I think I've done that this year. Maybe not to the level of golf over six months, but certainly with the highlights of winning The Open, the Olympics and taking the Race to Dubai again. So it's been a great year and it feels lovely to finish in this way.”

Having started his season with a second place in the Nedbank Golf Challenge and joint third in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, it was not until June that he first tasted victory, winning the BMW International Open in Munich with a three-stroke victory at Gut Lärchenhof.

Buoyed by the confidence brought by winning, Stenson produced one of the greatest performances ever witnessed in an Open Championship to win the Claret Jug. Going toe-to-toe with Phil Mickelson, Stenson’s closing 63 broke a host of records including the lowest total to par in Open history and the lowest ever final round by a winner.

Recalling the names on the Harry Vardon Trophy awarded to the European Tour Number One, Stenson said: “We've got Ballesteros, we've got Langer, we've got Faldo, and then of course in the later years, we're more familiar with the names who won it; and Norman is on there. It shows a lot of history. To win it once is very satisfying and to win it two times is even more. It’s been a lovely season, and it is great to top it off like this.”

64 golf digest india | december 2016

Henrik Stenson has become the latest player to join the exclusive group of Honorary Life Members of the European Tour.

On the European Tour

new access list to reward all European Tour players

Fitzpatrick Triumphs In Epic Dubai finale Matthew Fitzpatrick continued his remarkable rise by claiming his third European Tour title on a dramatic final day of the 2016 season.

The Englishman holed a nerve-shredding putt at the 18th to win the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai by a single shot.

The 22 year trailed Tyrrell Hatton by one shot as he stood at the 18th tee, but after Hatton carded a bogey at the last, Fitzpatrick calmly slotted in his birdie putt to get to 17 under.

Hatton was alone in second on 16 under, with Charl Schwartzel another two strokes back in third.

Swede Henrik Stenson posted a stunning 65 on Sunday to clinch his second Race to Dubai title, while Rory McIlroy also shot a closing 65 to get to 12 under.

Fitzpatrick started his final round one shot behind overnight leader Victor Dubuisson, but he made gains at the second and third holes to jump to the top of the leaderboard.

“It means the world. To win one of these Final Series events is really special, and this one in particular as the last tournament of the year. For me to win on the final week of the year is special.

“Four Footers aren’t normally what you want For the win but to Finish it oFF like that makes it a lot sweeter. “it’s been a long year For me, and i’ve got to admit, this is just icing on the cake as a year goes. it’s been a — matthew Fitzpatrick great one.”

European Tour members, including those who have graduated from the Challenge Tour and Qualifying School, will now have a greater chance of retaining their European Tour cards for the 2018 season through a newly-established Access List which will run throughout 2017.

The Access List will run concurrently with the Race to Dubai but will exclude money earned at the most lucrative tournaments of the European Tour season – the seven Rolex Series events, the Masters and US PGA Championship and the four World Golf Championships.

Money earned at The Open and US Open Championships will be included as all members have an equal opportunity to pre-qualify for those tournaments.

The top ten on the Access List at the end of the season, not otherwise exempt from the final Race to Dubai, will then retain their cards for the following season. Consequently, the number of players retaining full membership from the Race to Dubai will be reduced from 110 to 100, with the Access List players being given a category immediately below the top 100 category.

The top performing players on the Access List will also be given the chance to compete against the world’s best players in the Rolex Series, with three spots in the fields of the BMW PGA Championship, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation and the Italian Open, available to the top three players in the Access List at the time.

december 2016 | golf digest india

65

On the European Tour

European Tour launches the Rolex Series

T

he European Tour has announced the Rolex Series, an exciting new alliance of leading tournaments which will strengthen the golf schedule from the 2017 season onwards.

The innovative concept — launched with the European Tour’s longest standing partner, Rolex — is one of the most significant advancements in the Tour’s 44 years and will enhance both the competitive and entertainment experience for members and fans around the world.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “We are delighted to unveil the Rolex Series today and we are committed to developing and building on it over the coming years.

“The Rolex Series will celebrate the highest quality of golf and the international spirit of the game; values that Rolex and the European Tour strengthen with this announcement. We are tremendously proud to have Rolex as our partner in this exciting new venture and we thank them for their continued support.” The announcement deepens the historic bond between Rolex and the European Tour, which has seen the Swiss company be the proud partner and Official Timekeeper of the Tour since 1997.

Rolex Director of Communication & Image, Arnaud Boetsch, said: “It is with great

66 golf digest india | december 2016

enthusiasm that Rolex will reinforce its longstanding partnership with the European Tour by supporting the Rolex Series, an innovative advancement in professional European golf.

“Rolex has enjoyed a unique alliance with golf for over fifty years and this is the most recent development of Rolex’s enduring commitment to the game.

“Across junior, amateur and elite levels, Rolex is devoted to golf’s development worldwide, and we look forward to being a part of the flourishing future of The European Tour.”

In 2017, the Rolex Series will feature a minimum of seven tournaments in seven iconic golfing locations across the world, all offering minimum prize funds of US$ 7 million, with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai

“It Was amazIng to see the croWds and everyone enjoyIng It. golf needs somethIng lIke thIs and It Is a great Idea. I really enjoyed It, and of course It Is alWays nIce to WIn.” — alex levy

featuring a prize fund of US$ 8 million. Plans are in place to increase the number of Rolex Series tournaments in future seasons as part of the multi-year commitment made to the European Tour by the world’s leading Swiss watchmaker.

As the scope of the European Tour expands around the world, golf fans will be brought closer than ever to the leading professionals on the world’s best courses thanks to significantly enhanced television and digital production as well as increased hours of coverage distributed worldwide.

The 2017 Rolex Series will begin in May with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in England and will be followed by two tournaments in July: the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation at Portstewart; and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald.

The fourth tournament of the Rolex Series next year will be the Italian Open at the Olgiata Golf Club in Rome in October while the final three Rolex Series events will be in November, comprised of the Turkish Airlines Open at Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort; the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in South Africa; and the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

On the European Tour

Players welcome Rolex Series

R

ory McIlroy has hailed the new Rolex Series. “It’s fantastic,” he said. “I think to be able to bring some of the bigger and best tournaments on The European Tour schedule and put them into this Rolex Series where obviously you’re playing for an increased prize fund, is fantastic.

“It’s a great thing for The European Tour.

Just to have the opportunity to bring more of the best players together more often, I think is going to be a real boost.

“Keith Pelley has been a huge part of that, and I think him getting involved and giving The European Tour a bit of different energy has definitely helped. Rolex have stepped up big time, and they have been a great partner

for golf for many, many years. But this sort of brings them to another level. So everyone in golf should be grateful to them for what they have done.

“I’m happy to be a part of it and I’m excited that The Irish Open is a part of it. It’s a massive thing for The European Tour.”

Alex Noren, who will defend his Aberdeen

“I’ve got to thank Wu ashun for pIckIng me as hIs partner at the World cup, It Is pretty cool to be — lI haotong goIng WIth hIm.”

Asset Management Scottish Open title with $7mllion on the line, also welcomed the new Rolex Series.

“It was huge for me to win the Scottish Open, and especially coming down the last two holes there. It was quite tough wind, and being able to par those two felt like I could stand my ground under pressure, which is always a confidence boost,” he said.

“The Scottish Open has always been a big purse, and I think it will be even better with the $7 million. I think that’s fantastic.

I think if you have all those tournaments in the future, and they said they are trying to get even more tournaments at $7mllion, and then you have the WGCs and the Majors, that’s a great schedule.”

PoulTER To makE EuRoPEan TouR comEback in auSTRalia Englishman Ian Poulter will make his first appearance in a regular European Tour event for ten months when he joins World Number Seven Adam Scott at the Australian PGA Championship from December 1-4.

Poulter last teed up on the European Tour in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the start of the year, and underwent foot surgery shortly after competing in the Masters Tournament in April.

A 12-time winner on the European Tour, Poulter will return to action at the revamped RACV Royal Pines Resort, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, host venue for the A$1.5million tournament which will be co-sanctioned with the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia for the second consecutive year.

It will be Poulter’s debut in the Australian PGA Championship and his first visit to the Gold Coast, located around an hour from Brisbane. “Australia is a fantastic place to play golf and I always receive such strong support from the fans, so I’m looking forward to playing the Australian PGA Championship,” said Poulter, who has played on Australian soil 13 times previously.

A popular player with fans, Poulter will add some colour to a tournament which is fast gaining a reputation for its festival atmosphere.

Poulter will be returning to a happy hunting ground, having produced some excellent results in Australia over the years.

On his last trip ‘Down Under’, Poulter

went head-to-head with Scott at the 2013 Australian Masters, eventually finishing runner-up.

Poulter and Scott will be joined by a talented line-up of players including Marc Leishman, Scott Hend, Marcus Fraser and defending champion Nathan Holman. december 2016 | golf digest india

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On the European Tour

suPerb 63 sees noren Win by six sHots in sun City

A

lex Noren posted a closing 63 to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player by six shots and claim his fourth European Tour victory of the season.

The Swede carded an eagle, eight birdies and a solitary bogey to finish the week on 14 under par and move up to third in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, and ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking. Jeunghun Wang, who held a three-shot lead on Saturday night, finished six shots behind Noren in second, one stroke clear of Ricardo Gouveia, Alejandro Cañizares, Victor Dubuisson, home favourite Branden Grace and Andy Sullivan.

Noren’s countryman Henrik Stenson fired a birdie at

the last to finish eighth on six under, while Danny Willett produced a 69 on Sunday to finish on three under and keep in touch with Stenson ahead of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.

Noren was delighted to seal victory in his first appearance at this event. He said: “I’ve tried to get in this tournament for so many years, and when I got in here, ending up winning, it feels unbelievable.

“I think me and my caddie worked on a lot to try to go for the right places on the green, because there’s so many tricky pins here. Wang was looking on the bright side after a difficult day. He said: “It was a really long day for me. Unlucky, but I still have a lot of tournaments. I think this is a great experience for me.”

turkisH deliGHt for olesen

T

horbjørn Olesen overcame a spirited challenge from David Horsey to claim his fourth European Tour victory in the Turkish Airlines Open at Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort. Some sensational golf over the first three days in Antalya had given Denmark’s Olesen a seven-shot lead heading into the final round, but when Horsey rattled in a 30 footer on the ninth to turn in 29 that advantage was down to two.

England’s Horsey then birdied the long 12th to get within one, but Olesen matched his nearest challenger’s four there in the group behind and then added further gains on the 14th and 15th to pull clear once more.

A closing 69 saw the 26 year old finish on 20 under par, with Horsey dropping into a share of second with China’s Li Haotong three shots further back.

“I actually slept alright the last couple of days,” Olesen said when asked about his huge overnight lead. “It was a weird feeling – I knew the guys today were able to shoot a low number so I had to make a few birdies.

“I felt like I kept it pretty steady. Obviously the last four holes were tough mentally.”

Olesen won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last year after a run of missing 13 cuts in 18 events, and it was a similar story in Antalya after making just three of his last 12.

“i’ve goT To Thank wu ashun for picking me as his parTner aT The world cup, iT is preTTy cool — li haoTong To be going wiTh him.”

a tee on a roof?

The players had a unique view as they approached hole 16 throughout the week in Turkey - the tee box was positioned on the roof of one of the villas at the Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort.

The hole played 34 yards longer due To The new Teeing area and measured 463 yards.

68 golf digest india | december 2016

On the European Tour

Harrington back to winning ways in Portugal

Golf’s superheroes unveiled as shanghai showdown hits new heights Five of the world’s best golfers revealed their superhero personas at the launch of the WGC-HSBC Champions as one of the strongest fields ever assembled in the region gathered for ‘Asia’s Major’.

40 of the world’s top 50 players teed off in Shanghai at the Sheshan International Golf Club and – for the first time ever – all four Major winners took part in the China showpiece.

To launch the flagship tournament, the five players starred in “Return of the Superheroes”, an all-action animated film that celebrates their individual superhero qualities. Taking the lead roles were Open Champion Henrik “The Machine” Stenson, US Open winner Dustin “The

Heat” Johnson, Rickie “Eagle Eye” Fowler and Bubba “The Magician” Watson plus local hero Haotong “The Force” Li. The innovative film was designed to make the golfing stars accessible to the wider global audiences attracted by the sport’s return to the Olympics and was used as the opening credits of the European Tour broadcast.

For the fourth year running, the WGC-HSBC Champions attracted forty or more of the world’s top 50 players, with Masters champion Danny Willett and US PGA winner Jimmy Walker also amongst the formidable field facing defending Champion Russell Knox.

MatsuyaMa storMs to WGC Glory in CHina Hideki Matsuyama became the second Japanese winner in European Tour history as he romped to a seven-shot victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions.

The 24 year old entered the final day at Sheshan International Golf Club with a three-shot cushion and nobody could get any closer than that as he signed for a 66 and a 23 under par total.

Henrik Stenson claimed a share of second after a closing 65 and that moved him into first place in the Race to Dubai standings entering the Final Series, replacing Danny Willett, who endured a disappointing week.

American Daniel Berger also finished at 16 under after a closing 69, a shot ahead of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and

another American in Bill Haas.

England’s Ross Fisher, 2010 champion Francesco Molinari and American Rickie Fowler were then at 14 under, with Spaniard Sergio Garcia and defending champion Russell Knox completing the top ten two shots further back.

Matsuyama followed in the footsteps of Isao Aoki - who won the European Open 33 years ago - and also became the first Japanese player to win an individual World Golf Championships event.

The victory is a continuation of some remarkable recent form with a win at the Japan Open and a second-placed finish at the CIMB Classic in the previous two weeks.

Padraig Harrington claimed his first European Tour title in eight years as he held off the challenge of defending champion Andy Sullivan at the Portugal Masters.

The three-time Major Championship winner's last triumph on Tour was his 2008 win at the US PGA Championship and he showed all of his experience under pressure in a closing bogey-free 65 to get to 23 under.

That was one shot better than Sullivan who also closed his week at Victoria Clube de Golfe with a 65, and two better than the semi-retired Anders Hansen and Finn Mikko Korhonen - who secured his playing privileges after starting the week 116th on the Race to Dubai.

The victory takes Harrington's European Tour tally to 15 wins and moves him alongside Thomas Bjørn at 15th on the all-time list.

“It's a big win. The Portugal Masters is a big tournament.

I’ve been coming here for ten years so I've always liked coming down to Portugal.

“There are so many Irish people here. It’s always felt like a home away from home, so it's really nice to win the tournament.

december 2016 | golf digest india

69

On the European Tour

Meet the Graduate: Jordan SMith

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n sport, it is very easy to find the prodigies – those whose natural talent is apparent from the moment they first attempt their chosen discipline – and the late developers, who suddenly discover top-class abilities some years after one might usually expect. Jordan Smith, however, might actually be both.

Though it might seem strange to describe such a young man – 24 this year – as a late developer, the Englishman only swung a golf club for the first time at the age of 12, far later than the vast majority of his contemporaries.

Equally, if not quite a prodigy, Smith’s talents blossomed so quickly that in a little over a decade he has gone from being a promising schoolboy to winning the EuroPro Tour in 2015 and now, in his maiden Challenge Tour season, becoming the Road to Oman champion and graduating to the European Tour – a meteoric rise by anyone’s standards.

“I took up golf when I was about 12 or 13,” he said. “Me and my dad watched the Masters on TV and we lived right next to the course I still play at now, so we thought we’d go up there and see what it was all about.

“I was more into my football and rugby at that time but I just gradually got better and better at golf and eventually had to give up the other sports to concentrate on my game.

While a Walker Cup appearance in 2013 and two wins on the EuroPro Tour on his way to topping the Order of Merit showed that Smith was already a very capable player, few would have been paying him too much attention ahead of the Challenge Tour’s sea-

70 golf digest india | december 2016

son-opening Barclays Kenya Open back in March. By the end of the next tournament, though, everyone took notice of an opening round of 63 gave Smith a lead he would never relinquish in a wire-to-wire victory at the Red Sea Egyptian Challenge Presented

by Hassan Allam Properties.

A further six top-ten finishes meant Smith never dropped out of the top five on the Road to Oman, leading the way for 14 of the 25 weeks heading into the final fortnight of the season in the Middle East.

An overdue second win followed at the season’s penultimate event, the Ras Al Khaimah 2016 Golf Challenge, all but securing Smith’s Number One Ranking which he duly confirmed at the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.

“My family have been immense,” he said.

“When I first took up the game properly, and

“It’s unbelIevable. On the 18th putt I saw the lIne and I saId tO my caddy, ‘I’ve gOt It’. It’s tOO gOOd tO have thIs feelIng after twO years Of nO wIns, It’s very nIce. It’s tOugh tO say that It’s the best One [wIn].” — alex levy

got into England teams and regional teams, they were always supporting me.

“My dad didn’t want me to work a job, he just told me to go out and concentrate on my golf and that they’d look after that, and thankfully for them both now I’ve been able to get to where I am today – it’s payback time now, definitely.

“That’s why walking off the 18th green was emotional, mainly from my mum, and it was really nice to be able to have her here when I finished.”

With two Rankings wins in consecutive seasons, a joke doing the rounds among Smith’s Challenge Tour peers is that next year he will make it a hat-trick by winning the Race to Dubai.

Such forecasts remain firmly tongue-incheek for now, but few would bet against Wiltshire’s finest putting his name in the record books alongside the many other global Challenge Tour success stories, such as Open Champion Henrik Stenson and Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose.

“I never would have imagined I would go on to do what I have on the Challenge Tour this season,” he said. “My aim at the start of the year was to keep my Challenge Tour card, and now I have a European Tour card, so now I can go out and play next year and have fun.

“The Challenge Tour has definitely prepared me for next season. Travelling inside and outside of Europe and living out of a suitcase is something that has taken some getting used to, but I feel ready for next year.

LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION. DRAMA ON THE WORLD STAGE

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

LIVE SCORING

LATEST HIGHLIGHTS

Follow the drama at: europeantour.com

Play edited by ron kaspriske

Sand By Me How I handle any bunker shot by rickie fowler

ere at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., I’m in a steep-face pot bunker. Most golfers associate these hazards with Scotland and Ireland, but we have synthetic ones at this club. Instead of bricked layers of sod that can melt in a muggy climate, the face of this bunker is built with strips of artificial turf. Only up close can you tell they’re not real. (As a member here, I’ve had this view more times than I care to admit.) Tough as they are, these bunkers have forced me to perfect a few techniques for extreme situations. Learn them, and you’ll gain the confidence to handle any bunker at your course. —with max adler

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72 golf digest india | december 2016

“Crazy tall lip? Open the face and drop your hands back to clear it.”

“Accept that awkward lies happen.

The biggest thing to control is how you react.”

Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

Bunkers

Play Your Best

stay positive Maybe you’re agitated because you just made a bad swing or it feels like an unlucky break, but the worst thing you can do is let negative emotion carry into a difficult bunker shot. Hate the sand or the moment, and you’ll tend to rush and make matters worse. Instead, laugh a little inside about your situation. Then embrace the chance to hit a memorable shot. Obvious as this might sound, attitude separates more players than talent in this game.

create a stance Sometimes the issue is, you’re not even sure how to stand. Your only options are to put one or both feet outside the bunker or maybe take a knee. Whatever the case, just try to get as centered as possible. Where does your torso need to be so that your hands can hang directly over the ball? If the ball is far below my feet, like it is on this shot (left), I grip the club as long as it can be. If the ball were above my feet, I’d slide my hands down the grip. Also, gravity wants to pull me down the slope on this shot, so I sink a lot of weight into my knees and rear end to stay balanced as I find my footing. Standing extra wide, you won’t be able to put much leg action into the shot, but resist the urge to swing harder with your arms. Swinging out of control will make you fall victim to gravity and hit the shot thin or way too fat.

splash it high To clear a ridiculously tall lip, remember two setup keys: (1) Open the clubface as far as it will go before taking your grip. I see a lot of amateurs get confused here. I hold the club lightly in my right hand first, let the face fall open, then I put my left hand on the top of the grip; (2) Drop the hands back, away from the target. This adds even more loft. Once you’re set up properly, it’s really all about speed. Take a full swing, sliding the club under the ball. On the follow-through, keep the clubface pointing to the sky. Hopefully you’ll see the ball up in the air, too.

dig deep OK, maybe you got really screwed. On top of everything else, your ball is buried so only the top half is visible. Time to swing hard. I mean really hard. Play it in the middle of your stance, come down steep and enter the sand about an inch behind the ball. You won’t make much of a followthrough, but if you keep the face open, the ball should pop out. Now go sink the putt. rickie fowler is a Golf Digest Playing Editor. + PUMA shirt, $75, pants, $80, shoes, $160 COBRA hat, $26

Play Your Best Tour Tips

“Don’t be afraid to follow through on short shots.”

Pure Pitching Practice this release pattern for consistency by lydia ko

f you want to become better at pitching, my first piece of advice is to put your ball in lots of scenarios when you practice.

Why hit 50 from the same spot when you get only one swing for each shot on the course?

Next, understand how your wedge is supposed to move through the grass. It’s supposed to glide, not dig. To

I

get it to do that, feel like you’re letting the clubhead strike the ball a split second before the hands move over the top of its position (small photo). That means keep your grip pressure light, and resist the urge to prevent the clubhead from releasing in fear of hitting it too far. Keep the club moving.

A great way to practice this action is to pitch with your

right hand only. It’s hard to stop the momentum of the clubhead with only one hand.

It will naturally glide along the turf and then extend just left of your target to complete the swing. Copy the feel of this release pattern when you play and your pitching will improve.

Lydia Ko is No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

disTance conTroL

CALL AWAY: HAT, $28 • FOOTJOY: SHOES, $200

don’t change the length of your swing to control distance. Just change grip length. For shorter shots, grip down.

76 golf digest india | december 2016

Photographs by Dom Furore

Golfer’s wish List by Butch Harmon Play Your Best

%

When a yardage is perfectly between a 7- and 8-iron, I’m most likely to… ▶ Baby the 7: 52% ▶ Muscle the 8: 43% ▶ Do whatever my caddie or partner says: 4% ▶ Do the opposite of what anyone says: 1% source: Golf DiGest reaDers

forwArd THInkInG

BUTCH’S BASICS

How to Hit More Greens You can start by avoiding these mistakes

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

here are lots of reasons golfers miss greens— poor contact, overswinging, too much curve on the ball. But the root problem is usually one of three bad habits: 1. not taking enough club.

I almost never see an amateur hit over the green on a fullswing approach. When facing a full 8-iron shot, take the 7 and swing smoothly. You’ll hit the ball more solidly, and get the distance right.

2. aiming poorly.

This stems from just not thinking properly. Most golfers are happy to put the ball anywhere on the green, so they aim at the middle. Problem is, that doesn’t

T

allow for their natural shot shape. For example, if you’re a left-to-right player and you aim at the middle, your target goes from the whole green to just the right half. Instead, aim at the left edge of the green.

3. trying to help the ball up.

The club’s loft will send the shot plenty high if you hit it flush.

Here’s a great way to stop lifting: When you hit irons on the range, hover the clubhead a few inches at address so you have to hit down to get to the ball. You’ll learn to shift forward and swing down and through.

Butch Harmon is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional.

Some people think a shorter swing means shorter shots, but often the opposite is true. Short, wide backswings, where the hands stretch away from the body (above), create a bigger arc than long swings where the arms collapse at the top. The key is how much you turn your body. As long as you make a good windup behind the ball, a short swing can be powerful.

december 2016 | golf digest india

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footjoy: shirt, $75, pants, $85, shoes, $180 • titleist: hat, $27, glove, $24 • rolex: watch • house of fleming: belt

don’t hang back and try to lift the ball off the ground. Shift forward and focus on swinging down and through.

Play Your Best Strategy by Jack Nicklaus

“Some bunkers are to challenge; others are to help you aim.”

ometimes there’s no substitute for experience. With rare holes, if you haven’t walked the land, you’ll want to be paired with someone—maybe a caddie—who can clearly articulate what lies ahead. But most of the time, a simple scorecard drawing shows all you need. As a designer, I try to give golfers very clear cues with the bunkering.

Take the par-5 16th at the Condado de Alhama Golf Resort (illustrated), a course I designed in Murcia, Spain. At 636 yards from the back tees, almost nobody is getting home in two. From overhead it might look like a jumble of obstacles, but what you have to do becomes pretty straightforward if you ask, “What shot do I want for my third?” Then, by plotting how far you typically advance the ball, you see what’s doable. The key is to identify the challenge bunkers (the ones you can choose to hit over) and the directional bunkers (the ones you can use to help your aim). Figure those out, and an intimidating hole becomes strategically simple.

—with max adler

S

GARDEN SPOT Getting here in two swings is an achievement. With just a partial wedge in, you can run one on or hit just about any shot you like. Having options is your payoff for taking on two challenge bunkers with the second shot. And to be in position to hit such a big second, you certainly carried the first challenge bunker on the left side of the fairway with your tee ball.

How do you spot a challenge bunker? Hitting to one side of it looks easier, but hitting over it unlocks a big chunk of fairway.

▶ Challenge bunkers ▶ Directional bunkers

From here you’ll have a clean look at the green.

Any hole location is accessible, even one cut on the far right.

An unimpeded view is your bonus for having carried a challenge bunker. A slightly longer approach is the trade-off for staying short of the second challenge bunker.

TIME TO PAY Being here in two isn’t bad, but it’s not ideal. This native area before the green is elevated, so your view of the flag is obscured, if not totally blocked.

You also have the greenside bunker to contend with when you come in on this line. But getting here was probably stress-free. You simply had to gauge the distance to the bunker in front of this spot and hit short of it.

With the drive, perhaps you used the other directional bunker as a similar lay-up target. You can always spot a directional bunker because there’s no reward for going over it.

NO REAL CHOICE These three bunkers I consider neither challenge nor directional. To finish the hole you have to go over them at some point, so there’s no decision. They boost the importance of finding the fairway with the drive. If your tee shot catches the first challenge bunker (left of the fairway), you might have to lay up short of these three. Reaching the green in regulation will be impossible. It’s just like No. 17 at Baltusrol.

78 golf digest india | december 2016

MIDDLE GROUND

UNDER THE HILL

With most of my greens, the back is subtly higher. I don’t enjoy greens that slope too severely back-to-front. We never played many because the tour didn’t think such greens were worthy of a tournament. If you come across one, you absolutely cannot go long. If it’s my first time playing a course, I might take extra care to leave approach shots below the hole.

Illustration by Chris Riley

Al MesserschMidt/Getty iMAGes

Flying Blind How to navigate an unfamiliar hole

23% 21% 18%

38%

5

What the Pros Know by Hank Haney Play Your Best

HDCP

42% 34%

I wish my backswing were… ▶ More repeatable ▶ Longer ▶ Shorter ▶ Slower source: Golf DiGest reaDers

1

2

o matter how long or short your swing, one fundamental you need to apply is keeping your arms “connected” to your body as you swing back and through. If you do it right, you’re making it way easier to have good timing during the swing and to move the club on the correct plane.

It’s easy to see when your lead arm “disconnects” by moving away from your body on the backswing. But the trail arm pulling back behind you causes just as many problems. Either way, your swing gets shifted off plane, and you’ll have a hard time getting your body, hands and arms to work together on the downswing.

Ideally, your lead arm moves up your chest in the backswing, and your trail arm doesn’t do much more than fold up from the elbow and rotate out slightly. It’s a simple move, but you have to do it in addition to turning your body. Remember, the arms bring the club up, and the body rotation brings it around. Get it right, and you’ll be in sync, with the club moving on plane.

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Your trail arm should bend up at the elbow and move slightly outward— not get trapped behind your body.

call away: hat, $28, glove, $19

Get Connected It’s the path to good timing

Hank Haney is based at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville, Texas. To get fixed in Golf Digest, send Hank your swing on Twitter: @HankHaney.

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Play Your Best Swing Sequence oren Kjeldsen’s swing is one of the most unusual for a modern-day tour pro. There is no rigidity in his hands and arms, no emphasis on the big muscles or a huge shoulder turn to generate more power. Instead, the Danish pro’s wrists cock early, his left arm bends and his hands never rise above his head as he takes the club to the top of the backswing.

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Soren Kjeldsen A free-and-easy swing that works under pressure

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It might look unusual, but it works. The four-time winner on the European Tour finished T-7 at this year’s Masters, T-9 at the British Open, had four other top-10 finishes; and he won the Irish Open in 2015.

He has been working with Scottishborn instructor Colin Smith since 1992, and although Smith has helped maintain Kjeldsen’s special technique, it was always

the teacher’s goal to make his player selfsufficient. “I come from the Jack Grout/Jack Nicklaus philosophy that you need to understand your swing so you can fix it yourself,” Smith says. “Soren’s soft arms and hands and very full release make it easier to swing the club freely under pressure. That’s why it’s the type of swing average golfers should emulate.” —roger schiffman

relAXeD AnD reADy

Hinging eArly

STABle Turn

Soren sets up with his head and hands behind the ball, his right shoulder well below his left. This promotes an upward strike with the driver.

“Note the angle of the stripes on his shirt,” says his teacher, Colin Smith. Also important: Soren is relaxed. “His hands and arms are soft, and his left arm is not extended.”

Taking the club back, he exhibits an early wrist cock while his lower body remains stable. “This shows that you don’t have to be like Rory McIlroy, rigid at address and going back,” Smith says. “The average golfer, who can’t practice a lot, should keep the hands and arms soft and supple to avoid a tense swing.”

He creates a “double-lever action,” by cocking his wrists and then folding the left arm, Smith says.

Those are two power generators. And he does it without sliding or swaying. That helps ensure a center-face strike. “If you drew a line from the center of his chest to the ground, it’s the same as it was at address,” Smith says.

S o u rc e : e u ro p e a n To u r

▶ 2016 Driving AccurAcy

65.2%

Soren Kjeldsen (31st)

▶ 2016 SAnD SAveS

58.1%

76.2%

70.4%

53%

81%

Tour median

Henrik Stenson (1st)

Soren Kjeldsen (5th)

Tour median

Alejandro canizares (1st)

releASing power

AcTive HAnDS

STATueSque finiSH

pro-file

Starting down, he unleashes the club with tremendous speed by letting the two levers—the left wrist and arm—straighten.

His lower body initiates the downswing but isn’t wildly overactive.

“Soren’s knees don’t move together,” Smith says. “Like Sam Snead, his right foot stays down as his left knee moves at the target.”

As he strikes the ball, “Soren has a little more hand and arm rotation than the average tour player, resulting in a controlled draw,” Smith says.

Past impact, note how the right hand rolls over the left. “This kind of release is recommended for the average golfer,” Smith says. “Especially if you tend to slice the ball.”

His steady head position is a result of swinging with great balance. “He just pivots around his center,” Smith says, noting amateurs can copy this by practicing with their feet closer together. He ends with his weight on the outside of the left foot and right toe. “It looks like he can stand like that for years,” Smith says.

soren kjeldsen 41 / 5-7 / 143 pounds fredensborg, Denmark driver TaylorMade AeroBurner 10.5 degrees ball Srixon Z-Star Xv + PUMA shirt, $70, pants, $80 shoes, $160, belt, $50 SRIXON glove, $19, visor

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Play Your Best Equipment by Mike Stachura

Sophisticated fitting tools aren’t just for drivers.

Lasting Connection How to find a putter that’s right for you ping vault ▶ The four putters in this series feature a milled construction with a grooved face pattern that varies in shape and intensity to improve the way mis-hits roll. p r i c e $300

o dyss e y mil l e d c ol l ection rsx ▶ The face’s friction pattern maximizes roll, and a slot in the sole helps produce a crisper sound not usually found on face-insert putters. pr ice $380

t i t l e i st ca m e ron & crow n ▶ Weighted based on the specific requests of players looking for shorter putters, these models come only in 33-inch lengths. price $380

wi l s on infinite ▶ This line of seven putters includes heavier, largerdiameter grips and slightly heavier heads to steady your hands and stabilize your stroke. price $100/$130

he typical golfer purchases a new putter every six years, according to Golf Datatech, an industry research firm. (This is up from five years in 2013.) Clearly, the putter is a more considered purchase, especially as average prices have more than doubled during the past two decades. The confidence that comes from a proper fitting is another reason why putters are sticking. Sophisticated fitting tools aren’t just for drivers: High-speed cameras and devices like SAM PuttLab and Quintic show you how a putter can fit and improve your stroke. So skip the emotional attachment.

Today, a fitting makes for a lasting relationship with your new putter—like perhaps one of these six.

T

taylor m a d e tp col l ection ▶ The six classic shapes in this series benefit from a polymer face insert with grooves cut at an upward 45degree angle to create forward roll. price $200/$220

cl e ve l a nd tfi 2 1 3 5 ▶ The copolymer behind the face yields a soft feel, but the secret is how the sightline matches the geometric center of the ball for better alignment. price $160

82 golf digest india | december 2016

Photograph by Dan Saelinger

What’s in My Bag Play Your Best

Tip of the cap If you see me practicing without my signature Hogan-esque cap, it’s because I wear it only for tournament rounds. But I always carry this headcover.

Driver

age 23 lives Clovis, Calif.; Dallas story 2015 u.s. amateur and nCaa champion. earned 2016-’17 pga tour card with Web.com tour win in september. tinkerer at heart at 17, i discovered single-length clubs.

My coach, Mike schy, and i grinded down a bunch of shaft flexes and clubs to build my first set. then David edel built my set for my amateur career.

With Cobra’s support, i’m proud of our new one-length irons. new putting stroke? i’m thinking about switching to the sidesaddle method in 2017. i’m always trying to gain an advantage, so i won’t rule anything out.

—with stephen hennessey club

yards*

driver

295

3-wood

270

3-utility

240

4-iron

215

5-iron

200

6-iron

187

7-iron

174

8-iron

161

9-iron

148

pw

135

gw

120

sw

105

lw

85

*carry distance

Gophers, ya great git I’ve always had an easy time memorizing things. At 6, I knew mental math. One of my talents is reciting “Caddyshack” lines.

Kind of like any golfer.

specs Cobra King LTD Pro, 7.8° (Project X Hzrdus Black 85 shaft, tipped 1 inch, X-flex, 44.5 inches) this is the lowest-lofted driver i’ve ever played. it has helped reduce my spin rate while maintaining an ideal launch angle.

Inspiration I mark my Bridgestone B330-S with a cross and Bible verse for motivation. It also helps my aim. irons specs Utility iron: Cobra King 3, 39.5 inches. 4- through pitching wedge: Cobra King Forged One Length (all 37.5 inches, Project X LZ 6.0 shafts, JumboMax XL grips)

Science guy My yardage book marks my achievements and has my initials. It also holds my vector-putting scale, which helps me putt according to the grade of topography.

Cobra brought these one-length clubs to market in the fall. i spent two weeks with the r&D team to offer my insight on these irons i’m using.

WeDges specs Cobra King Versatile Grind (50°, 55° and 60°, KBS Hi-Rev X shafts, 37.5 inches) each wedge has a special stamp on it to make it fun (Fittyfive and Fitty). the 60-degree (right) has a unique look, too. the swingweights and lengths are the same as my irons.

My artistry I’ve gotten into stippling drawing, which is done with many dots making figures. This is hanging in my room at home.

FairWay WooD specs Cobra King LTD 3/4, 12° (Project X Hzrdus Black 85 shaft, X-flex, 44 inches) i always had a difficult time finding a consistent 3-wood. the versatility with this club has really benefited my game. putter specs Edel The Brick, 34.5 inches, 2° loft 335 grams i’ve used this prototype since 2014. i’ve said i might change to sidesaddle, but i love the look of this.

Working it Given my love of physics, the Cobra tour reps stamped a sequence of symbols that spell out: “Do work” on my 60-degree.

EquipmEnt: j.d. cuban • dEchambEau: david cannon/GEtty imaGEs • hoGan paintinG: courtEsy of dEchambEau • caddyshack: orion picturEs/GEtty imaGEs

Bryson DeCHaMBeau

The Golf Life Rundown

Hot dog after nine? Yes. Plastic ball markers? No.

Conduct Unbecoming?

Tour players reveal their most amateurish moves e use the same clubs they do, wear the same clothes and copy their attitudes (we see you, fingerwaggers). But what about the reverse? Are there any ways tour pros act like amateurs?

Our unscientific survey of PGA Tour players at the 2016 Travelers Championship:

W

Yes 33%

No 67%

▶ “I’ve never used one of those things,” Patrick Rodgers says dismissively.

Adds Colt Knost: “I don’t think you even see them out here anymore.” The pros’ preferred method is a damp cloth, ideally employed by someone other than themselves. “I’ve used [the ball washer] on my golf cart,” says Martin Laird.

“Sometimes, when I’m playing at home and my caddie isn’t there to do it for me, I will.”

Use plastic ball maRkeR fRom the golf shop?

Yes 9% No 91%

▶ Course-provided

ball markers scored the fewest “yes” votes in our survey.

Typical was Jon Rahm, who used the same coin for nine years before recently switching to one from his alma mater, Arizona State. Jason Gore was among the few who have no problem playing with plastic. “I probably have one right now,” he says. “I was just in Nantucket last week and haven’t cleaned out my pockets.”

84 golf digest india | december 2016

bUy a shiRt at the golf shop?

Yes 42%

No 58%

▶ Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman will buy one if it’s a memorable course, but they won’t find Chez Reavie among the shirt racks. His answer: “No, no, no.” weaR sneakeRs while playing?

Yes 46%

No 54%

▶ Some might laugh,

but Andrew Loupe sees benefits of training in trainers.

“If I’m working on my balance, yes,” he says. “You don’t have as much grip on the ground, so if you’re working on your balance, it’ll force you to swing in control.”

get a hot dog at the tURn? Yes 69%

No 31%

▶ Rahm, a Spaniard, had one once—during a practice round at Oakmont earlier this year. Rodgers always has one at his home course. Martin Piller is more of a connoisseur, considering only top-notch dogs. “Depends on the course,” he says.

“If they have good hot dogs, yes.”

dRink fRom the wateR cooleR? Yes 64%

No 36%

▶ It’s not that most players resist staying hydrated. They just prefer the quality and certain cleanliness of water bottles— and, if possible, carried by their caddies. “If it’s really hot in the summer, I’ll drink from anything,” Laird says.

RetRieve a ball hit into someone’s back yaRd? Yes 54%

No 46%

▶ “I’ll shank one

every other month,” Kaufman says. But will he venture onto someone’s property to retrieve it? “No, that’s a lost cause.”

Johnson Wagner doesn’t think twice about it: “I’ll walk straight in.” Adam Rainaud will trespass on only the more welcoming yards.

“Unless they look really friendly and invite me in their yard, I’m staying out,” he says.

—brittany romano and claire rogers

Illustration by Gluekit

J.D. Cuban/Getty ImaGes

Use a ball washeR?

Rules The Golf Life

Gary Player couldn’t see the hole.

He asked for—and got—a little help.

ANSWERS 1. Gary Player had his caddie, Rabbit Dyer, do this in the 1989 RJR Championship. Rule 17-1 allows it.

2. Under Rule 13-4, touching the sand with your clubhead is a two-stroke penalty, even when done in anger. Luke Donald suffered this fate in Round 1 on No. 9 at the 2014 Masters. The penalty gave him an 8, and a day later he missed the cut by a shot.

3. No. Patty Sheehan’s caddie kicked Alison Nicholas’ ball in the 1994 Solheim Cup singles, causing a one-stroke penalty (Rule 18-3b). Sheehan lost the hole and the match.

4. A mark used in connection with Rule 26-1b, which describes how to drop from a water hazard, can stay grounded, as Jack Nicklaus did in the 1991 Memorial.

It Happened On Tour Take this quiz of rules incidents and see whom they affected 1

Is it OK to have your caddie hold the flagstick high above the hole so it can be seen from a blind spot?

3

Not searching for a ball, a player’s caddie accidentally kicks the opponent’s ball. Because it was hidden by a leaf, is it “no harm, no foul”?

2

In stroke play, if you thump the sand in disgust with your club after failing to get out of a bunker, is there no penalty because you weren’t swinging at the ball when you struck the sand?

5

When two players mistakenly hit each other’s ball, does the penalty fall on the first golfer to err?

6

4

If you put a tee in the ground to mark where your ball last crossed the margin of a hazard, is it a penalty if you leave it there while playing your shot after taking a drop?

When a ball at rest on the green is struck by a shot from off the green, the struck ball can be put in its original spot. Can you place the ball in motion where it would have stopped if unimpeded?

7

If you hit your tee shot on a par 3 to the edge of but not overhanging the cup then mark, clean, and replace it, is it a hole-in-one or a birdie if it falls in?

8

If a dog runs onto the green as a golfer is preparing to putt and swats the ball away, can the player putt from where it comes to rest?

9

When a golfer is courteous enough to move his marker from someone’s putting line, shouldn’t he get the same courtesy and be reminded to move his coin back before putting?

5. It’s double trouble. In 1995 at San Diego, in Round 2 on their 10th hole, Phil Mickelson and Brad Faxon each teed off with No. 1 Titleists. Lefty got to a ball first in the fairway.

Each hit to the green, and the error was noticed. (Faxon played Tour Balata.) They had to replay their shots from the correct spots and take two-stroke penalties (15-3b).

6. No. In the 1994 Masters, Loren Roberts was allowed to replace his ball where it was on 18 (Rule 18-5, Rule 20-3ciii), but Ernie Els had to play his ball from where it came to rest (Rule 19-5a).

7. An ace! A ball replaced that remains at rest for a few seconds and falls in is considered holed out (Decision 20-3d/1), as Cindy Rarick discovered in the 1988 Santa Barbara Open.

8. You’d do what Paul Casey did at the 2012 Dunhill Links and replace the ball without penalty (Rule 18-1).

9. Courtesy can be contagious, but when Dale Douglass failed to move his marker back in a 1987 Chrysler Cup Four-Ball match, it cost him and Gene Littler the hole to Player and Bob Charles (Rule 20-7b).

—cliff schrock

Illustration by James Yang

own your

sw gutter credit tk

Just a guess, but there are probably three or four things you need to work on with your golf swing to improve. Am I right?

Then jot them down. I don’t care if you use an index card, like I do, or dictate them to your smartphone. Just make a list of swing keys, and when you practice, stick to them. For example, maybe you swing off your back foot and need to transfer your weight better. Or maybe you cut your swing off short, and should let your chest keep turning. Whatever issues you have, don’t let them always get the best of you because you’re not paying attention to how to fix them.

Working with my swing coach, Tony Ruggiero, I’ve identified four fundamentals that I constantly try to improve.

Keeping the index card handy allows me to stay on point.

See if my notes can help you be a better ball-striker, too.

— w i t h ro n k a sp riske

86 golf golfdigest.com digest india| |month december 2016 2016

Photograph by First Lastname

wing gutter credit tk

focus on the fundamentals you need to improve by smylie kaufman

Photograph by First Lastname

month 2016 | golfdigest.com

87

backswing

don’t sway Making a full turn and really loading up the right side as you take the club back is a huge power generator. Do that and you can really hit the ball hard. However, be careful you don’t let your body sway a lot in that direction. That will make it much harder to get back to the ball and produce solid contact. One thing I do to prevent that sway is to make a backswing where my pivot feels centered over the top of the ball (below). Tony will even hold an alignment stick next to the right side of my head as a reminder. If I bump it, I’m swaying too much.

backswing

keep it together

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

gutter credit tk

Whenever my swing gets a little funky, I go back and check to see that my right arm isn’t drifting too far away from my body when I make a backswing. A little separation is fine, but a real loss of connection means it’s going to be a challenge to re-sync my arm swing with my body pivot on the way down, so my timing isn’t off. I want everything turning back together, so I’ll often work on keeping my shirt sleeve tucked into my armpit as I make a backswing. Here I’m demonstrating what I mean by bunching my shirt into the armpit as I make a onehanded backswing (above). This helps remind me to keep the movement of my arms and body in sync.

Photograph by First Lastname

+ POLO GOLF shirt, $90 RLX GOLF pants, $98 POLO RALPH LAUREN belt, $85 FOOtjOy shoes

through-swing

completely unwind When you rotate your upper body toward the target in the downswing, don’t stop after you strike the ball. Keep going. Feel like your chest covers the ball at impact and rotates all the way until your right shoulder is pointing at the target—or at least as far as you can unwind. A drill I do to train this movement is to set up with an alignment rod between my feet. This represents my ball position. I then make practice swings, focusing on getting my upper body fully unwound so it moves ahead of the alignment rod (below). I keep turning until my right shoulder is ahead of my left foot (photo on page 61). This full rotation makes sures the clubface is square at impact and I power through the ball. Finish strong and you’ll own your swing.

use the ground A good downswing has to start from the ground up for leverage and proper sequencing. Getting things to move in the correct order is a challenge for a lot of people I play with in pro-ams, but I sometimes struggle with it, too. When things are a little off, I go back to my step drill (above). It helps train the fundamental of shifting your weight into the front foot before swinging down. I make practice swings where I lift my left foot off the ground, step with it toward my target, planting it again, and then swinging the club down and through. After a few reps, I really start to regain that proper feet-first sequencing. smylie kaufman won the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on the PGA Tour, shooting a final-round 61. He ranked 26th in birdie average (3.80) last season.

month 2016 | golfdigest.com

89

8-second rule are you standing over the ball too long?

i

by bo b ca r n e y

t’s a simple question, and it seems like an important one: How long should it take to hit a golf shot? Rummage through most instruction books, and you’ll find a lot on the subject of timing, but little on time.

That’s why a new book called Golf ’s 8 Second Secret: What separates golf’s greatest champions, by PGA pro Mike Bender and accomplished amateur Michael Mercier, has provoked debate. The authors argue that a shot—from the time you set your lead foot, step over the ball and swing to the finish—should take eight seconds. This period occurs only after a golfer has carefully evaluated conditions, incorporated swing thoughts and narrowed his or her focus. In other words, there is no going back. Bender and Mercier studied dozens of the game’s greats through TV coverage, film footage, even old photographic sequences, and that’s the consistent duration it took them—from Bobby Jones to Mickey Wright to Phil Mickelson.

Others, such as Lee Westwood, tend to take longer or vary the time, especially under pressure, and that invites problems. The authors add that before they even step in, a player’s pre-shot routine should take no more than 10 to 12 seconds, for a total of about 20.

Do you get it done that fast? Judging from an informal study of amateurs at a public course, most weekenders aren’t even close. They are check-listers, reviewing the do’s and don’ts as they stand over the ball, sometimes for as long as 20 seconds. Double that time when you add their pre-shot routine.

Though Bender and Mercier believe we all could use an eight-second shot clock, some of the game’s most prominent coaches aren’t as convinced. They do agree, however, on three things: (1) You should swing without delay once over the ball; (2) That time ought to be consistent for every shot; (3) It’s personal.

The coaches supported the book’s organization of the shot process. They say sizing up a shot can take any amount of time. Tour pros, for instance, tend to spend more time deciding about escape shots or unpracticed shots around the green. But once the decision is made, rehearsal and execution should take no more than 20 seconds and must be consistent. The idea is to progress from conscious calculation to instinctive motion as you decide, picture, feel and finally act. Mixing the stages, such as still debating club selection while standing over the ball, invites poor performance.

“If you take too long over the ball, your feet get landlocked,” says instructor Dean Reinmuth. “Then your whole lower body feels stuck.

The upper body gets quicker. So your motion looks too quick, but really what happened is, you took too long.”

Sport psychologist Gio Valiante agrees with the authors, to a point: “I’ve talked about 20 seconds from pre-shot to finish. But it’s a range. Some players are at 23, some at 17. You can’t make it a rigid thing.

Everybody copies the best players in the world.

But the best players don’t copy anyone.”

Only one of the 25 or so Hall of Famers Bender and Mercier studied—Jack Nicklaus—varied from the eight-second rule.

He did that, they say, because he spent less time on his pre-shot routine and noticeably longer over the ball, but still totaling 18 to 20 seconds.

“Almost always under pressure there is a tendency to take more time,” says sport psychologist Bob Rotella. “But the real problem is when you start taking too much time between the last look at the target and the swing. I try to get guys going with their first instinct. That one is all about confidence and commitment. The second one can be filled with fear and doubt.”

Rotella often asks clients to make a practice swing, inevitably fluid and relaxed, and then suggests they build a routine around that.

Josh Zander, a Golf Digest Teaching Professional who played in the 1992 U.S. Open, cautions that no matter the time taken, you must feel ready to hit. “Sometimes I count to four as I approach the ball. Then I see an image of the shot, and my brain tells me we’re ready to go. I’d be surprised if it weren’t eight seconds or less. But the key is to go when your brain gives you the signal. Remember Sergio Garcia, the way he gripped and re-gripped the club? The thing I admired about that was that he wouldn’t go until he was ready.”

Bender and Mercier say that’s why great players take only eight seconds. Any longer is bad for confidence and focus. It’s precisely why Garcia and Westwood haven’t won majors, they say.

Sport psychologist Richard Coop studied the 20-second zone a decade ago. His take: More important than a consistent time is what happens during that time. “A lot of golfers have rituals but not routines,” he says. “In other words, you’ve gone through the ritual of motions, but not really been there, done the routine.”

Coop’s advice on time: “Find what it is you’re doing over the ball that’s taking so long—and still not working—and eliminate it.”

debating shot selection while over the ball invites poor performance.

90 golf digest india | december 2016

Photograph by Hugh Kretschmer

Finchem’s Exit Interview ●●●

american president you most admire? you’ve known a few. Probably George Bush,

No. 41. He was great to play golf with, and be around. He’s an absolutely true gentleman, and very funny. Two good qualities, I think, in any leader.

A

s editor I’ve been fortunate to work with the three commissioners who ran the PGA Tour since its founding.

I edited a rules column written

by Joseph C. Dey Jr. after his tenure (1969-’74); he had the imperious bearing of a medieval archbishop. It was once said in our pages, Dey kept a copy of the New Testament in his right breast pocket and The Rules of Golf in his left—“he helped write one of them.”

I then enjoyed a tumultuous relationship covering Deane Beman, the tour’s greatest commissioner but an intense dictator (1974-’94). The commissioner I’ve come to admire best is Tim Finchem, 69, whose 22year reign as the most powerful man in golf will end when Jay Monahan takes over in January.

My first recollection of Finchem was when we published Part One of a series on the tour’s business operations that was scorchingly critical.

Beman dispatched his thendeputy commissioner to fly to our offices in Connecticut and pound on the table with his shoe, which I recall Finchem doing with perfervid outrage.

We were so chastened that we quickly published the next two installments. When Beman retired, Finchem ascended.

A master politician who once worked in Jimmy Carter’s White House, Tim acted like the shoe episode never happened.

His dry humor and business skills gained him increasing respect. We played many rounds of golf together. I remember him making 2s in successive rounds at Pine Valley’s infamous fifth hole.

I never thought anyone could sustain the tour’s trajectory of prize money, but Finchem out-Bemaned Beman.

Finchem’s greatest achievement came in 2007 and 2008, at the depth of the financial crisis,

●●●

what qualities in jay made you endorse him as your successor? It’s kind of a

when he never blinked, slyly tapping into his reserve funds and keeping the purses growing until the economy kicked in and the tour roared back.

Known for his long-winded answers, he’s a formidable subject in a Q&A. So I brought a chess clock and set the ground rules for our interview on Nov. 1, a week before the policy board’s vote to confirm Monahan.

Finchem had only one minute to answer each question. Again, he never blinked. ●●●

what would surprise the average golfer about the job as commissioner? You

don’t play golf very much.

We always counsel people that we hire: Do not expect your handicap to go down when you work for us. We all travel a great deal, and you really can’t take the clubs because if you add an extra half-day to play, it becomes untenable. ●●●

what do you think was your no. 1 accomplishment in the job? Developing a solid

working relationship between our executive staff and the players. And making good choices [in hiring] people.

When you get bright, creative people who come up with good ideas, and good managers who can execute them, you’re going to be successful.

92 golf digest india | december 2016

●●●

your compensation has been a matter of public record and comment. [the tour’s 2015 tax return as a nonprofit shows finchem’s total compensation as $5,655,352.] were you underpaid or overpaid? pick one. [Laughs.] I think I’ve been

fairly paid.

●●●

that’s not one of the choices. If you were to

compare me with other sports commissioners, you’d say it’s low. I think as a company you should try to get the best talent you can, spending as little as you can to do it. And I think our board has kept my position and our other senior-management positions in a 50-60 percent of total cash comp compared to the marketplace. So I think that’s reasonable.

●●●

one of the things i admire most about you is your thick skin. in hebrew they say gam zeh ya’avor—this too shall pass. but you’re irish? As the

years go by, you sort of take the longer view. I love Ty Votaw when he comes in with some story that’s sticking the needle to us. I say, “Ty, A, not many people are reading that garbage, and, B, if they do, they’re going to forget about it in 24 hours.

So don’t let it bother you.”

long list. His skill set, his background, his knowledge of sports from the bottom up, is much superior to what I enjoyed when Deane made me deputy commissioner. Jay’s tough, but in a very nice way. And he’s a good manager because he always keeps everybody looking down the road. I think he gives off a sense of confidence to people, which is important. I think he’s 10 percent more Irish than I am, but substantially more likable. If you talk about public speaking, I have a bit of an advantage over him because I’ve been doing it longer. But he has a huge advantage over me because he really connects with people. He has this ability to say things that draw you in, in a meaningful way. If I tell a story, I give the overview. If he tells a story, he takes you there into the minutiae of what happens, and you really live through the moments of the story. He has no ego whatsoever. None. So if you add it all up, he’s pretty strong. ●●●

how would you rate yourself as a negotiator?

Fair, I’d say. I have one significant flaw. In big negotiations, I have a tendency to drive it from my perspective. As opposed to, as I normally do in other areas, push toward sort of a consensus. You don’t need to control it. You need to help grow it and reach out for more input. I think that held me back from being better than I was. describe your golf game. ghin.com says you’re a 6.5 at pablo creek in jacksonville and cypress point. My game is

inconsistent. Every three or four Illustration by Ben Kirchner

“It’s so much fun doing this job with these people that you just want to work all the time.” years I have a couple of really good rounds for me that keep my enthusiasm going. I really like to practice these days. I was at Burning Tree last week for about four hours, just chipping and putting and hitting balls.

I don’t know what else you can do better than that to clear your head. I probably played 20 rounds this year, all in. ●●●

so what’s your day going to be like when you retire?

I’m going to try to take two half-days a week to do intensive work on my game by myself, really practice. And play at least three rounds a week. Get into an actual rhythm. [Finchem later said he will remain active as chairman of The First Tee and launch a capital campaign in 2018 for the effort he cofounded to introduce golf to young people and teach the game’s core values.] ●●●

as a newspaper carrier, you once delivered your route during a hurricane. what’s the worst weather you’ve ever played golf in?

St. Andrews, about five years ago, on the Old Course. When we got way at the back, on the 12th or 13th holes, a lightning storm came up. I didn’t know they had lightning in Scotland.

It was so bad that we huddled down, got in those little hollows, and curled up and prayed. That’s how bad it was.

●●●

you mentioned at arnold’s memorial service that you hit 18 balls in his honor. what about arnie moved you?

When I was a kid, just watching him play Augusta, the way he moved around the course, the way he handled himself. But the first time I went to Latrobe stands out in my mind. He invited me up there to play golf 17 or 18 years ago. I mean, I’m at Latrobe, this is Arnold Palmer, and he’s making [a big deal] over me. It just didn’t feel right. And such a down-to-earth good guy. But the other side of it is, in my tenure, he became

sort of a confidant. Somebody I could bounce things off of.

He wouldn’t be a guy who would, you know, write the book for you, but he had great instincts. So I came to love that about him, and he was very helpful to me. And then his sense of humor was amazing. ●●●

among current players, who best personifies what we admired so much in arnie? If you had to write

down Arnold’s qualities, a fair number of players you could argue have everything on the list. Not as famous maybe, not as successful, but technically have a lot of those qualities.

The younger players coming up today really pay attention to those things, more than 10, 15 years ago. People say, “I love Jordan Spieth.” And there are other players like that. But Arnold had this other thing going on. I don’t know how you articulate what it was. And I don’t know if anybody will ever have that thing again.

●●●

favorite tour wife not your own? and you can’t pick barbara nicklaus. I get along

●●●

what would be the harm of fines/suspensions being made public? why is your organization different from the nfl, the nba and mlb? You have to consider two

things. One is the level of the action or violation. And the other is to your point, what’s the harm? If a player broke out into a fistfight with somebody or if a player had a significant domestic-abuse situation, or a player is in a bar with a gun, the public has a right to know our reaction. But if a player says a bad word in front of 30 kids, we don’t like that, but we don’t think we need to tell everybody, because we want people to view our players as role models. Thankfully we don’t have much of the former.

But if we started to get some of it, and we’ve had our issues, then we’ve got to step up and tell the story. We like our policy the way it is.

●●●

favorite course to play every day for the rest of your life? Pablo Creek,

Burning Tree, Cypress Point. ●●●

with tour wives really well. Lisa Cink would have to be right up there. Amy Mickelson is a delight.

twice for president.

●●●

●●●

which single event during your tenure had the most impact on the tour’s level of exposure? Tiger Woods

becoming a dominant player.

For me, as a fan, when he lapped the field at Pebble Beach [in the 2000 U.S. Open] by 15 shots or whatever, he had cemented the fact that he was in the best two or three players of all time. I actually walked with him on the final round.

If you go back and watch it, he might have hit one shot that day that wasn’t pretty much exactly where he wanted to hit it. Every shot was underneath the hole, eight, 10 feet away. So I thought that was the exclamation point: OK, this guy’s great, and that’s going to last a long time.

tell us something we still don’t know about tim finchem. I voted Republican

what rule of golf would you like to see changed?

Out-of-bounds is a little goofy.

People don’t follow that rule anyway. If there’s a lake on the right side of the fairway, and I hit in the lake, I can drop it with a one-stroke penalty. If it’s a fence that marks out-ofbounds, I have to go back to the tee, which is essentially a twostroke penalty. What’s the logic in that? And then the other, from the tour’s perspective: When the ball is on the green, there shouldn’t be a penalty if it moves, period. You just replace it and you putt it. Unless you intentionally moved it. ●●●

you’re standing on the last tee of the masters, last

pairing, with a two-shot lead. walk me through the finish. I hit my drive on the

left side. It creeps into the rough short of the bunker because I can’t reach the bunker. And then I look at it and think hard. There’s no wind. I take a rescue club and try to get it 75 yards short of the green. And I succeed. And then I get a little nervous.

●●●

don’t tell me you chunk the wedge? No, I hit a good wedge,

but I overcook it a little—blade it a touch—take it to the back of the green. It’s a Sunday pin, so now I’ve got to two-putt. I run it about 10 feet past. I miss the putt coming back, but the good news is, I’m in a playoff. ●●●

if you left a letter on your desk for the next commissioner, what would it say? It would

be a struggle to determine whether I should give just general encouragement or give directives on how to do the job. The latter would be inappropriate, and the former is probably unnecessary. I would tell Jay that he’s got all the tools; he’s gonna do great.

But keep in balance everything from a time standpoint, because it’s so much fun doing this job with these people that you just want to work all the time. Jay is more balanced than I was. He works really hard on his family stuff, so he doesn’t need me to tell him that.

●●●

besides free private aviation, what will you miss the most? Working with

these people here. Going to the meetings. Dreaming stuff up. Trying to make it happen.

Setting a vision for the next year or two. Driving it. You know, I’ll miss the players. The players have been great. Yeah, I will miss it. jerry tarde Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Golf Digest USA

december 2016 | golf digest india

93

The Golf Life Man About Golf

The Locker-room Whisperer Your guide to the good and bad (plus tipping) by david owen

ruce Barilla grew up at the edge of what was then Chicago’s meatpacking district, in the neighborhood called Back of the Yards. He began caddieing in 1967, when he was 13, and two years later he moved to the refreshment stand. “It was $1.50 an hour, which was more than I could make caddieing,” he told me. “I got all I

B

could eat for free, and I could play golf after work and on Mondays, and the girls came to the counter in bathing suits. It was the best job I ever had in my life.” He went to college to please his parents, whose parents had immigrated from Eastern Europe, but as soon as he graduated he changed his mind about careers. “I just wanted to go back to the golf course,” he said.

So that’s where he went.

He spent most of the next 35 years working at clubs and tour events, usually in the locker room, with a lengthy intermission during which he preached at an independent Christian church, mopped floors at a college and went through a divorce.

He’s now retired, although he works part-time as a driver at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and he still preaches. He also works at tournaments and consults with clubs that want to improve their locker rooms.

“I’ve done consultations at 27 clubs, and I’ve worked at or visited 40 more,” he said.

“I don’t mean any disrespect, but if architects and interior designers have never been a locker-room attendant, they’re going to make mistakes.” Here

are some of those mistakes: ceramic dispensers for shampoo and other shower liquids (which break when they’re dropped and can’t be checked visually as they get low); double-stack half-lockers (which aren’t tall enough to keep suits from wrinkling); amenities placed on counters next to sinks instead of on shelves just above them (because amenities on counters get wet and make the counters hard to keep clean); clubs that redo their locker rooms without seeking

94 golf digest india | december 2016

input from employees who’ve worked in them for years.

And here are some things he likes: heated shelves in shoeshine rooms (for drying wet shoes); a supply of loaner shirts (for golfers who get rained on and need something presentable for the grillroom); lockers wide enough for two pairs of shoes stored side by side (like the ones at Butler National); shoe-shine counters situated as close as possible to the lockerroom entrance (so that workers can easily spot members and guests who need help). Barilla’s website, lrcgolf.com, includes a floor plan for something he calls a Shower Suite™. If my wife ever tricks me into remodeling our house again, I’m hiring him to design the bathrooms.

In Barilla’s view, a locker room should be a sanctuary— and never more so than during a professional event (he has worked at 45 of those). “There are things we see that even sportswriters don’t,” he said.

The best regular tipper among the pros is Phil Mickelson; the biggest tip he has ever received part of was a check for $5,000

that Billy Hurley wrote to the locker-room staff at Congressional Country Club after winning the Quicken Loans National this past June; the biggest tip as a percentage of the purse was $1,200 from Nick Price at the Western Open in 1993.

Barilla answered my questions about tipping only because I insisted. He believes that no-tipping policies discourage good service, but he also believes that job satisfaction comes mainly from working hard and paying attention to details. He leans toward his wife’s philosophy, which is that if a waitress does a poor job you give her a nice tip anyway because maybe she’s having a terrible day. “Five dollars is a very reasonable tip for doing a pair of shoes,” he said, when I asked for specifics. “And if you’re unsure what to do, you can ask the manager or your host. I know it can seem like a lot—there’s the car parker, the bag guy, the cart guy, the shoe guy. But even if you have to spread around a hundred bucks, why not? You couldn’t afford to get in the door, so it’s worth it.”

Brad Mangin/Pga TOUr/geTTy iMages

A reasonable tip for doing shoes?

Here’s your answer.

The Golf Life Mr. X

“If you can’t talk football, you won’t make many friends on the PGA Tour.”

Undercover Tour Pro Culture Shock was always set on moving to America. Before I decided that I wanted to play golf for a living, I grew up listening to my parents, teachers and other professional people talk about the bigger opportunities here. No disrespect to the European Tour—I think the new CEO, Keith Pelley, is a smart guy who’s already initiated a lot of measures that have made it better—but the PGA Tour is always going to have the richer purses. There’s just more corporate money splashing around.

I don’t see that changing in my lifetime.

I

Orlando was the first place I paid rent in this country. It seemed like on every corner there was a Burger King, a Denny’s and a really solid golf course I’d never heard of. With all the amusement parks, I was familiar with the city’s reputation as a popular spot for families to go on holiday. But it took a bit of traveling before I realized just how unlike the rest of the country Orlando really is. The Northeast is so beautiful in summertime.

California is amazing. The winters stink for golf, but some of the states with the Rocky Mountains are my favorite. We live in Arizona now. My job requires good weather and reliable airports, and I like that we can see the mountains from our terrace.

Besides driving on the right-hand side of

96 golf digest india | december 2016

the road, the most difficult cultural adjustment was simply getting into conversations.

I’m a native English speaker, so language wasn’t the problem. But if you can’t talk football, you won’t make many friends on the PGA Tour. The same goes for basketball, the college level more than pro. Baseball, not as much, which surprised me, as I’d grown up thinking it was your national pastime.

“SportsCenter” is playing in our locker room at every tournament, and a lot of guys turn it on when they’re killing time in the hotel room, too. I’ve given up trying to get Americans interested in, let alone to understand, rugby and cricket. I love it when I get paired with an international player who can chat about this stuff, but to stay sane I’ve had

to learn the sports here. I’ve even adopted favorite teams, mostly for random reasons. My favorite football team is from the city where I won a big event. I suppose I should root for the Cardinals, but this allegiance was established before we bought in Arizona.

A lot of the pros from the Southern states tell hunting and fishing stories to each other.

Sometimes those will last four or five holes. I didn’t grow up with guns, so it’s pretty hard for me to connect with that crew. And those guys aren’t exactly going to make much of an effort to include you.

I’m not trying to make it sound like we’re all shallow people, but in over a dozen years I’ve never talked to another pro about a book he’s read. Not once. With the presidential campaign this past year you heard some political discussions, but more in the manner of it being a sport, as that seems to be the way news outlets cover elections here. It’s all about the matchup.

When I first moved to America, I had it in the back of my mind I’d eventually move back to near where I grew up. I never imagined having much desire to stick around and play PGA Tour Champions events, which hasn’t changed. But the thing is, my kids are American. We’re rooted here. I can’t talk to them about cricket, either.

—with Max adler

Illustration by Brian Cronin

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Play Nice How to resolve any rules dispute amicably

olf is a game rooted in polite behavior, but there are times when isagreement over the rules ates an uncomfortable situon with an opponent or felw-competitor. Unlike tour s, you don’t have the luxury being followed around the urse by a rules official who n quickly resolve a dispute. So hose times when a violation ght have occurred but no ofal is handy to render a judgnt, follow this step-by-step

G

match play

1

decide if it’s worth it Although opponents can’t agree to waive a rule, you can disregard a potential rules breach by an opponent. An example: You can’t decide to ignore stroke-and-distance penalties for shots hit out-of-bounds.

If you do, you’re both disqualified. But if you see your opponent take an improper drop after hitting a shot O.B., it’s your choice if you want to ignore the violation.

2

make a claim If you’re troubled by something, let your opponent know you think a rules violation might have occurred as soon as you’re aware of it.

That might be awkward, but it’s important.

You must do it before anyone in the match tees off on the next hole, or before all players leave the putting green of the last hole.

The only time you can make a claim after that is if the facts of the situation weren’t known at the time the hole was completed, and you had been given wrong information by your opponent. continue the match Whatever the

stroke play

1

see something? say something It’s good sportsmanship to let a fellow-competitor know a violation might have occurred before he or she makes another stroke. If there is disagreement or uncertainty about how to proceed, that golfer can finish the hole with two balls using two procedures. However, once that golfer has taken further action with the original ball, such as making another stroke, playing a second ball is no longer an option.

2

step aside After informing a fellowcompetitor that you think a violation has occurred, that person has to decide how to proceed. Assuming no further action was taken with the original ball, he or she can announce the intention to finish the hole with two balls and choose which one should count if the rules permit. Or the golfer can continue play the original ball in the manner he or she thinks is best.

3

finish the round The golfer who potentially committed the rules violation needs to alert the Committee

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