Jyoti Randhawa

Calcutta: The Troon isn’t for the faint-hearted. India’s Jyoti Randhawa, who finished the 133rd British Open in Scotland at tied 27th, the highest ever for an Indian in any Major, feels so. But he did his homework well, and he worked hard for every yard he drove and putted at the Royal and Ancient.

He reached New Delhi Tuesday morning, and, speaking over the telephone with The Telegraph, said he realised that he shouldn’t be overawed by the sheer hugeness of the occasion. “There were thousands of people watching, and all the best in the world were around me… It could have been disconcerting, but I decided to play my own game, not think of where I was.”

The clever thing that Randhawa, the 2001 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, did was to land at the course four days before the meet and, with his wife Tina and brother caddie Bunty (who is Calcutta-based), tour the course in a car.

“My wife takes care of home affairs, but she too got interested and came along. Bunty and I studied the different holes and fairways and greens and prepared strategy,” said Randhawa. He did not, however, consult any local expert on this. Then he had four days of practice. Effort pays.

“The Troon is next to the sea, so it’s very windy. And the lie of the land isn’t easy. That’s why all the best in the world flock to these ancient shores. There are difficult bunkers and if you don’t have a shot you don’t get anywhere. For somebody new, this is a tough place, demands a lot of effort and concentration. Yes, there is this 90 per cent of work, but with the wind cutting along, you have the other ten per cent that can take you anywhere. Very unpredictable.”

Possibly the weather was the most intriguing part of the entire experience. “You could get four seasons in a day. In the third round (which Randhawa finished one over) I had fine warm weather, followed by rain later and then, following a windy bout, it was pretty chilly by the time I was working on the 18th,” he said. “The summer turned to winter and all in between.”

He said his first round was pretty “tentative”. “It was good golf, but with so many people watching… that kind of pressure… with me were an American and English amateur.” He managed to par the first five, then dipped as he bogeyed the sixth. He climbed out a bit, with a seventh hole birdie (par 4) and went out at 36.

Returning, though, it was tough. He bogeyed the 11th, birdied the 12th and then slipped again as he double-bogeyed the par 3 14th. He went two over the first day.

“The out nine were easier for me — you can pick up your shots comfortably — than the back nine,” said Randhawa. “And the par 3s were the trickiest of the lost, most of them. At the Troon, you go out in a South-Westerly direction and return pretty much via North-East.”

Selecting the tricky places, Randhawa found the 8th hole pretty tough. “It was a small green, narrow guarded with bunkers. Very little chance of error there, a par 3. Another par 3 the 17th, was also very demanding. And the guys who parred the 10th, 11th and the 12th were those who had clear advantages.

“I think I did a good job of being cool, calm and collected. I held my nerves. Maybe my past experiences helped, my travails around the world, especially my Asian PGA Tour and Japanese Tour experiences.”

That was definitely the interesting part, what with ultimate champion Todd Hamilton also having cut his golfing teeth from the Asian Tour and then to the Japanese tour. The path, probably, has been laid.

His favourite was the 405-yard par 4 seventh. It’s called the Tel-el-Kebir and the instructions say: ‘Bunkers on the left and right fairway narrow the driving zone. The fully-bunkered green climbs steeply into the surrounding dunes.’ Well, Randhawa birdied it in all of the four rounds.

And he enjoys talking about the big boys. “I played my practice round with Vijai Singh at the Volvo PGA two weeks back and we have become good friends. Took a few tips from him for the Open. And Ernie Els and I know each other on first name basis… Haven’t met Tiger, but maybe next time…

About the sport in India Jyoti seemed a bit cut up that he was getting all the attention “because I finished 27th.”

“I am happy for that. I am happy for achieving the best result by an Indian in any Major,” he said. “But can that be the standard, can you plot the future of Indian golf on that? There is so much talent in India, the country has really leapt forward in the last few years, but where is the government recognition of this, where is it’s patronage?”

Randhawa, who goes off to the Japan tour Sunday before going to the US two weeks from there, talked about infrastructure. “Look, apart from the Royal Calcutta Golf Club and three-four around Delhi, there aren’t any more world class courses in the country. That needs to be done.”

After two weeks in Japan, Randhawa will be in the US for two starts that he has got. They are the Reno Tahoe Open (Reno, Nevada) and the Buick invitation (Connecticut). That will be Randhawa’s first time on the US Tour, a tour that Calcutta pro Arjun Atwal is playing in. Randhawa will be attempting the US PGA qualifying in October-November, and who knows India may end up with two musketeers on the best tour of the world.