He was headline stuff this past year. This Friday, Rahul Bakshi will make the long journey to catch the season’s biggest headline-makers at close quarters.

With an easy sighting of Ernie Els & Co possible at the tree-lined Delhi Golf Club, the Chandigarh lad is travelling to the national capital to “see how they play our courses.” “I just want to see how they conduct themselves on-course,” he says. “There are people like Adam Scott and Lee Westwood coming later in the month — it’s such an exciting thing.”

The 17-year-old played at the Indian Open last October, and says it’s experiences like these that make you understand how to raise your game.

“I played with Lu Wen-the — the Asian Tour ninth-ranker — in the third round there. So that was definitely a huge confidence boost.”

The first big change came when Jeev (Milkha Singh) and the others started doing well abroad. “I think the number of people taking their practice seriously went up manifold,” he explains.

“If this is here to stay, there’ll probably be something similar.” Arguably the brightest young golfing talent the country threw up this year, Bakshi, still playing the junior circuit then, stunned the field at the All-India Amateur at the start of this year with his victory.

“I was struggling a bit in the beginning of the year. But the key, I think, is not to avoid your weaknesses. It got better and better for me as the year progressed,” he says.

The progression: He topped the under-18 category at the Faldo Series Asia chapter. Then, just about two weeks to this date, he was part of the team that qualified for the world junior championship. It was just the second time in history that India had made it to the finals. And of course, that All-India title.