NEW DELHI: As amateurs, they teamed up to help the country claim the silver medal at the Asian Games in 2006.
Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri will now be out in the Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Wednesday to represent India at the World Cup of Golf. The duo will also be making their debut at the prestigious tournament, which offers a prize purse of $7 million in the individual category and $1 million in the two-player team format. “It's a wonderful feeling to represent the country once again, this time as a pro. It's not everyday that you get to play for your country,“ Lahiri told this paper from Melbourne.
“We are really excited and looking forward to our participation. A couple of years ago, Gaganjeet and I had a chance to qualify but we missed out. That was a heart break. For the next few days, I had nightmares about the missed putt. So, it is great to finally make it.
“Playing in such an event will also help us in our preparation for the 2016 Olympics which has the same format.“
The 60-player field will start with strokeplay in the individual event for the four days, the aggregate scores will be the team score. India's best showing in the World Cup was a ninth place finish by Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa in 2005.
Even before the prestigious event tees off at the Royal Melbourne Golf Course, Lahiri and Bhullar, like many others, had a good warm-up on the course, which staged the Australian Masters last week. Bhullar's 13th place finish at the tournament, won by Adam Scott, will also be a boost to his confidence going into an elite field that will have the likes of Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Hideto Tanihara, Bangladesh's Mohammad Siddikur besides local hero Scott.
Bhullar, who will have his parents following him this week, said, “I played really good last week. I want to continue with the same momentum . I just want to focus on the next four days. I'm going to try to keep my confidence level high.“
For Lahiri, though, last week ended on a sad note as he missed the cut after failing to cope with the quick greens. “I am happy that I came a week early. I had struggled with my putting last week. I really struggled with my putting last week, otherwise the game was good. I have moved to a lighter putter this week, which should help me cope with the fast greens here,“ said the three-time Asian Tour winner.
“I am feeling confident and looking to start well,“ he added.
