Special feature by Anand Datla
March 21, 2015: In a few days from now, Anirban Lahiri, the man of the moment for Indian golf will fly our flag at the iconic Augusta National Golf Club. You wouldn’t normally associate tradition and United States, but the pristine private club in Augusta is a welcome exception. When the first of the majors kicks off in April, Lahiri will join Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal as the only Indians to have competed at this great event.
Singh became the first man from the country to play the event when he qualified to do so in 2007, when he was at the height of his powers. The man from Chandigarh made a brilliant start, shooting an even 72 to place himself in a group of five, tied for 10th, with Davis Love III and Henrik Stenson among others.
But soon conditions turned very testy in Georgia and Singh began to suffer from the gravity of the occasion. As scores worsened progressively, Singh made 75, 76 and 79 in the next three rounds to complete the tournament at 14-over, eleven shots behind the winner. Interestingly, not a single man broke par that year, with Zach Johnson winning the Green Jacket at 1-over.
Singh returned to the club the next year. Wiser for his experience from the previous year and under much better playing conditions, Jeev finished the week in T25 at 4-over 292 alongside Adam Scott and Ian Poulter in a group of eight men.
Just three years later Arjun Atwal earned the honour of playing at the Masters. And despite being his fourth appearance at a major tournament, Atwal was clearly overwhelmed by the experience. He shot an 80 in the first round to slip into the drop zone soon as the tournament began.
Atwal played a lot better on Friday, but he had too much ground to recover. He shot one-under 71 in the second round, but it was too meagre to save him from the cut. Unfortunately for Atwal, he has never managed to make the cut at any of the five major tournaments he played.
Lahiri though will hope that he enjoys a better run this April. In his recent PGA Tour debut at the WGC Cadillac Championship, Lahiri got a measure of the challenge facing him. Despite suffering at the hands of the course at Doral, Lahiri will have learnt some valuable lessons that should come in handy by the time he reaches Augusta.
The Indian is also scheduled to play in Houston next week in preparation for his debut at the Masters. Indian golf will watch keenly to see their man come good at the only major championship to be played on the same course year after year.
