Jyoti Randhawa and Jeev Milkha Singh have been around for a while now. One has turned 40; the other is two months shy. Both are at a stage where in most other sports players would have been pleasantly counting their superannuation, resting wearied bones, or springing up on TV prattling to anyone that cared to listen. Thankfully, though, golf is not a young man's sport alone.
Even close to two decades into their professional careers, Randhawa and Jeev continue to swing away with the same zeal and success, suffering – like anyone else – blips in form but showing few signs of decline.
This week, the two are in action in Bangalore – after several years – for the Louis Philippe Cup (a team event that introduces the city-based-franchise setup to golf).
In the lead-up to the competition, the simplest way of finding time with either is out on the course, talking between shots on the fairways. The first Indian to finish on top of the Asian Tour's Order of Merit, Randhawa's recent form has, by his own admission, not been flattering. From a high of 70 in the world rankings in 2008, a period when he spent two consistent years in the top 100, he has slipped to 515 (for the week ending March 4). “You get a little complacent,” he says. “You start playing well, and then you don't practise or work that hard. With me, it's just sheer laziness. It's an Indian attitude – ‘let me relax a little'. I've also cut down on the number of tournaments to spend more time with the family. But if you're not always sharp, someone else is going to take over. That's golf, that's life. There will always be ups and downs. As long as you keep persisting, it will come back.”
Since the time he turned professional, in 1994, golf in India has come an awfully long way, Randhawa feels. “Yeah, it's really competitive now. On the Indian tour, I remember I used to win by shooting one or two over. Now last year, when I won in Mumbai, I shot 18-under and the runner-up had 14-under. That shows how good the scoring has gotten. And the money has gone up. We used to play for five lakh. Now we play for a crore. Look at the jump. Everyone's gotten serious. Earlier, you couldn't make a living out of professional golf. Now the top 20, 30 guys can make a good living out of it.”
India's young players are as talented as anyone else, Randhawa insists, and they could feasibly catch up with counterparts in the west. “Golf is very new in our country. Let's say 15 years. In America, they've been playing for 200 years. That's so much history. So much information has been passed down through generations. They know how to play, focus, adapt etc. That mental or physical ability that is required has only now started to come into youngsters here. Maybe five or ten years from now, you never know, we might have a champion.”
Jeev is back from a break of his own, some part of which he spent promoting movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, based on the life of father and legendary sprinter Milkha Singh. “No, I'm not acting in it,” he laughs when asked.
“We've left it to the pros. It's an excellent team: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Farhan Akhtar. We couldn't have asked for better. I trust they'll do an excellent job.”
Like Randhawa, Jeev too is thrilled by India's young crop of golfers, of the likes of Anirban Lahiri, who famously qualified for the British Open last week.
“Anirban has done really well in Asia and it's time for him to step it up and move over to Europe and America. He's got the distance and a good overall game; he just needs to get used to the courses and conditions. Himmat Singh Rai, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rashid Khan – they are all really good. If you have a good attitude and believe in yourself, there is no reason why you can't succeed.”
But key to India's fortunes in golf will be making the sport more accessible to the wider public, Jeev believes. “I always tell the government that with golf being in the Olympics, we need to have more public driving ranges. It's got to be accessible to the common man. If I was walking on the street and my son said ‘dad I want to try this game' – he can't be a member anywhere. I request the government to have a public driving range at least in all the big cities. That is the only way the game is going to get to the masses.”
Randhawa agrees. “We definitely need more people playing. Five hundred golfers and one champion is tough. Five thousand golfers and one or two champions is very easy.”
