A battle royale is in the offing from day one of the 2003-04 of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, as Mukesh Kumar, the No 1 professional on the Tour for past four years, takes on Jyoti Randhawa, the No 1 professional in Asia, when the Rs 1.8 million Kashmir Open starts at the breathtaking Royal Springs Golf Course, in Srinagar, from Wednesday.
The cream of Indian golf has assembled for the first 'major' of the new season. A field of 110 professionals and 15 amateurs will tee off, making it the first time in last three years that the Tour stop in the Valley has achieved a full field.
They will be vying for a whopping winner's cheque of Rs 2,91,600 and a three-year exemption on the Tour.
Among the other big names who will be seen in action are: defending champion and No 2 in 2002-03 season Order of Merit, Digvijay Singh; 2002 Indian Open champion Vijay Kumar; reigning Hero Honda Masters champion and winner of the season-ending Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, Harmeet Kahlon; twice PGA champions Arjun Singh and Uttam Singh Mundy; Gaurav Ghei, young sensations Ashok Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, Rahul Ganapathy and Gurbaaz Mann, and veterans Rohtas Singh, Ali Sher and Shiv Prakash.
Also making his debut on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour this season would be the outstanding Sri Lankan professional, Anura Rohana.
Randhawa, who took the first available flight to Srinagar after returning from his British Open campaign on Monday night, was full of praise for the Royal Springs Course.
"I think this is the most beautiful course in Asia. There was no way I would have missed a chance of playing here," said the twice Hero Honda Masters winner, who could have opted to play on the Japanese PGA Tour.
"Quite a few changes have been made since we last came here. The increased length on several holes is a nice addition and the rough is going to make scoring difficult this week," said Randhawa, who squeezed in 14 holes of practice after heading straight for the course from the airport.
Mukesh, winner here in 2001, was cautiously optimistic about his chances.
"There are several good players in the field this week, but that is not the reason. I have changed to a new set of clubs and am in the process of getting used to them," said the man who won a record Rs 21.77 lakh with ten victories in 2002-03.
Reigning champion Digvijay has not only changed his woods and irons, but his swing and the putter as well.
"It's a completely new Digvijay after spending a month with my coach Kel Llewellyn in Malaysia during the off season. This tournament will be more like a testing ground for me," said the Meerut pro, who will be seen with Titleist clubs and a belly putter this season.
The big problem this week for the players would be the rough. It would take exceptional skill to make a par if one misses the fairways. The Kentucky Bluegrass used for fairways, a unique feature of Royal Springs Golf Course, has thrived and formed a dense matt around the fairways. Players have been using pitching wedge to get out of the rough.
"Finding the fairway is going to be the key to winning the championship this year," agreed Digvijay.
The new tees have given the course extra bite. The ball travels a bit more in the rarified Srinagar air and the course was playing much shorter than its actual yardage the last two years.
"We have pushed back eight tees which has made the course a lot more challenging for the pros. I am sure they will love our course and come back again and again," said Ghalib M Shah, secretary and the teaching pro of Royal Springs Golf Course.
The main tournament finishes on Saturday and the curtains will come down on the Kashmir Open with the Navision Pro-am on Sunday.
