Shiv Kapur declared himself ready to face his baptism of fire when he tees off at the British Open on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Indian ace reckons the heat wave in England, which has seen temperatures soaring to the mid-30 degree Celsius, and sun-baked conditions at Royal Liverpool could be his 15th club in his attempt to leave an impression in the year's third major.
"I'm pretty relaxed and I'm enjoying it. It's fun. I played 18 holes yesterday (Tuesday) and I got a good practice round in. The weather here is a bit like Asia and it's nice and warm. A lot of the guys are finding it sweltering but I find it perfect golfing weather," said Kapur, who is making his Major debut.
"The course is getting firmer and it could be tough to predict what the scores will be. It will take a lot of patience out there as it's a course where you won't get the ball close to the hole a lot because of how firm it is right now."
The tenacious Indian wraps up his preparation with a practice round with fellow-Asian Tour member Andrew Buckle, who got into the elite field following South African Trevor Immelman's withdrawal this morning and said that his game didn't require any more fine tuning.
Kapur, currently 15th on the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, is quietly confident his straight-hitting game could see him tame the fabled par-72, 7,258-yard Royal Liverpool layout.
His caddie and close friend Neeraj Sareen said: "Shiv is hitting it good in practice and I think he's going to enjoy his week here with a good performance."
Kapur added: "I'm happy with the way I'm striking the ball. In fact, I'm happy with all parts of my game. I'm all set. There're no last minute things to do, not like in an exam. I'm ready to go," said Kapur, winner of last year's Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok.
"I won't set a target for the first round. I do know that I will have to get the short game going as there will be a lot of long putts out there. I realise you're going to drop shots as well out there and you have to accept it and get on with it."
