Melbourne, VIC, November 19: India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar does not want to let his biggest fans – his parents – down when he attempts to build on a liking for Royal Melbourne Golf Club at the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf which starts on Thursday.
Together with close friend Anirban Lahiri, Bhullar will represent his nation for the first time at the US$8 million event at the iconic Royal Melbourne where he enjoyed a top-10 finish at last week’s Australian Masters.
“I’ve got family who came down from Brisbane last week and my parents are here as well from India this week. They do travel once in a while to watch me play and it’ll be good to play well in front of them at such an important event. Everyone is so excited to see me play in the World Cup,” said Bhullar, who is a four-time Asian Tour champion.
“I played really good here last week. I was feeling high on confidence and I’m sure that confidence will help me. I just want to focus on the next four days. The sky is the limit. I’m going to try to keep my confidence level high.
“This is my first World Cup and I’m really excited. We went for qualifying a few years ago and we just missed it. It’s a great sense of achievement for team India. Anirban and I have grown up together in the amateur ranks and we represented India in quite a few international events, so it’s good to be here together.”
Lahiri didn’t enjoy a good outing at the par-71 Royal Melbourne last week, missing the cut after failing to come to grips with the lighting-quick greens at one of Australia’s most famous sandbelt golf courses.
“It’s probably the quickest greens that I’ve ever played on. The biggest challenge would be around the greens, getting into the right spots. You could be five or 10 feet away and have no chance of making a two-putt unless it goes in,” said Lahiri, who is a three-time winner on the Asian Tour.
Like Bhullar, Lahiri is also making his debut in the prestigious tournament, which will offer US$7 million in the individual category and US$1 million for nations which consist of two players. He was delighted to line up alongside many of the game’s top players in the elite field who include an in-form Adam Scott of Australia, who has won his last two events at home, Graeme McDowell of Ireland, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, Italian Matteo Manassero, Korea’s K.J. Choi, Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and American Matt Kuchar.
“It’s fantastic,” said Lahiri of his first appearance at the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf. “I think Royal Melbourne is a very unique golf course, not one of the long courses in the world but it’s a mix between a parkland course and a links course, especially the bunkering. It’s very windy and challenging.
“The game has been good. I didn’t putt very well last week but I’ve made some adjustments to my putter. It’s a good move. The game is great, I I hit it great last week. Hopefully I can get into a good start this week. Gaganjeet had a great week last week with a top-10, he’s obviously got a hang of the golf course and we’re looking forward to combining our scores well.”
Lahiri said the strong Asian contingent in this week’s event was another reflection of the growth of the Asian Tour. A total of 13 Asian players will tee off on Thursday.
“I think we’re getting to a point where we have to stop saying we’ve come to the world stage as we are at the world stage,” said Lahiri.
“I think there’s a whole bunch of us who consistently play against the top players in the world and on top quality courses. The more events that we play like this and of this stature, the sooner we get to a point where we’re singling out events like this and saying we’re here.
“We’re a part of the bigger movement in golf especially with golf improving the way it is in Asia. There’s evidence of that with guys like Kiradech (Aphibarnrat) breaking through globally. Obviously, we want to put the Asian Tour on another step forward on the world map which we’ve been doing steadily,” he added.
