When I went to the first tee for the Pro-Am, my mind immediately went back to the first time I came for the Hero Honda Masters two years ago. As I played the Pro-Am with Pawan Kant Munjal on my team, he agreed to sponsor me.I qualified for the European PGA Tour and now, for last two years, Hero Honda has supported me. Golf in India and my own game has come a long way, but I still feel things are incomplete as long as I don't win a major title in India.
And coming in from a win in Lexus International which ended a three-year drought for me, I feel this is the best time for me. I just had a week off during which I attended a friend's wedding. We danced away the whole night and that was really a great week. I had a trophy and my best friend was getting married. But now it's back to work.
The Pro-Am today was more of a practice round and it was social golf but it gave me a good opportuniy to get the feel of the greens and the fairways.Since I didn't play much golf last week, I practiced a little more afterthe round to prepare myself for tomorrow. The course looks in good shape, the are fairways are narrow, the rough is up and the greens are rolling well.
I think that it will be difficult to hole the putts this week, as there is a lot of hidden grain on the greens. Personally, the golf will be great if the wind picks up as there is a lot of wind swirling up there.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.