A prize-fund of 1.5-million euros, equivalent of around 2.05 million dollars or Rs. 9.59 crore, is considerably huge for any sporting discipline seen in the country. But in golf, it is not attractive enough to lure some of the big names, even from the European Tour.
When the inaugural edition of the Avantha Masters tees off at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Thursday, the creamy layer of Indian golf, along with some of the accomplished performers from Asian Tour will be up against a feeble challenge from those from Europe.
Only 10, including 13th-placed Shiv Kapur and mostly unknown names, from Europe's top-50 list are in the fray as India hosts only its third event jointly sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and the domestic PGTI.
The two previous events - Emmar Masters in New Delhi and the Johnnie Walker Classic here - offered $2.5-million each in February 2008.
The timing of the event is one obvious reason for an arguably weak European challenge. For the past three weeks, the European Tour has travelled through three major Asian destinations – Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. And what follows next week in Marana, Arizona, is the 8.5 million-dollar WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
It is quite understandable that after three gruelling weeks in Asia, the players needed to recoup before flying off to USA. One way of getting the big names to the event was to offer lucrative appearance money. In this case, the sponsor has tightened the purse strings and the result is a predominantly strong Asian field.
On the subject, Keith Waters, the Director of International Policy of the European Tour, said, “It couldn’t be helped. Coming after three established tournaments in the continent, it was unfortunate that this event had to suffer from lack of big names. But as the event grows in the coming years, and we are very keen to have India on the European Tour map, I am sure you’ll see a formidable European presence here.”
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, winner of the South African Open in December and placed seventh on the European Tour rankings, heads the challenge of the European Tour regulars. Ryder Cup player Northern Ireland’s Darren Clark, ranked 15th and winner of the 2008 BMW Asian Open and KLM Open is one of the more familiar names in the fray.
But the regulars from the Asian Tour and the PGTI are not complaining. They see a good opportunity to fill the leading spots this week. Jeev Milkha Singh, along with the 2008 Indian Open winner Liang Wen-Chong and Darren Clarke are clubbed together for the first two rounds.
They will be followed by former Indian open winners Jyoti Randhawa and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant in the company of Ireland’s Shane Lowry, ranked 22nd on the European Tour money-list. Arjun Atwal will be in the company of Thailand's Chapchai Nirat and Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
After unveiling the trophy on Wednesday, Jeev, sounding pleased with his short-game and declared that this week, he would be adopting a conservative approach, a departure from this usual aggressive ways. He put the winning score between –12 to –15 and said, “I need to be patient and concentrate more on distance control this week.”
He chose the 9th and 14th holes, both par-5, along with the par-4 17th as the tricky holes on the course.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, along with PGTI regulars Mukesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar strengthen India's challenge. Last October, it was little-known C. Muniyappa did the country proud by winning the Indian Open here. This time, too, another surprise winner cannot be ruled out.
