Randhawa leads Indian hopes

Randhawa leads Indian hopes
Press Trust of India

St Andrews, July 15: Wills Indian Open champion Jyoti Randhawa will scorch through the famed Scottish golf courses in a bid to join world number one Tiger Woods at the prestigious British Open at St. Andrews course next week.The 28-year-old Indian leads the 24-strong Asian challenge at the British Open qualifiers this weekend, aiming for an estimated 50 remaining open slots at four qualifying courses.

Taiwan's Yeh Wei-Tze, former Thai soldier Thongchai Jaidee are the other Asian PGA players among the 480 from all over the world who will criss-cross the greens here during next two days for the British Open. Aspirants include marquee names such as Europe's Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, Frank Nobilo of New Zealand, Costantino Rocca of Italy and Australian amateur star Aaron Baddeley.

In the fourth year of 'Asian invasion' to the British Open, players are confident that they can emulate the past qualifying success of Mardan Mamat of Singapore, India's Gaurav Ghei, Choi Kyung-Ju of South Korea and Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng.

"It's going to be awesome if some of us can qualify for St Andrews. I'd like to do it again because I have some great memories of the old course," said Ghei, who was the first Indian to play in the Open in 1997 at Royal Birkdale. The 32-year-old resurgent pro, is again bidding for the honours at the par-71 Lundin links. The Indian has special reasons to return to St Andrews as he defeated Scot Colin Montgomerie at the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1996 when India pulled off a famous upset victory. Compatriot Randhawa, who is drawn to play at the par-71 Scotscraig, wore a St. Andrews old course sweater for inspiration during practice on Friday. The reigning Hero Honda Masters titlist, however, said: "I'm really not thinking about St. Andrews right now and will have to keep my focus on qualifying.

"Scotscraig is an easy golf course but if the wind blows hard, it will be totally different to what we're used to in Asia. It's about luck as well because the ball bounces a bit on the course. "And over here, you've got play a lot of bump-and-run shots," Randhawa, who finished runner-up as Volvo Open, said.