By Rahul Banerji
Peacocks don’t fly, they tell us.
On a sunny Saturday morning though, the Fab Four (Rishi, Shubho, Rajender and self) certainly made the ball fly on the Peacock Course at the Delhi Golf Club during the Star Alliance Invitational.
Greens were the target off the tee as required especially on a nine-hole layout that has six par-3s, but the ball rarely obliged. Instead, it went into the jungles, the rough, the cart paths and once obstinately atop a tree.
Despite the mayhem, my partners marked good scores on their cards. Mine was another story altogether, including the ball in the tree.
I mean it.
Off my clubs golf balls tend to do odd things. They find streams and other water bodies with unfailing regularity. They wander off into thick scrub and marshland. They’ve even been stolen by crows and monkeys.
But never by a tree. This was a first.
There it was the blessed Bridgestone orb. Shiny and white. Securely perched in the fork of a thick bramble 20 feet off the ground.
Sergio Garcia had the luxury of a thick branch to hit his dazzler at Bay Hill during the PGA Championship all those years ago.
On Saturday in Delhi, Tarzan would have quietly taken a penalty drop. I did too.
It pretty much summed up a fun – if mazy – round.
And at the end of it all, prizes were given away by representatives of Star Alliance partners present on the day including Air India, Turkish Airlines, Thai Airways, ANA and United Airlines on behalf of our hosts SLW Golf Management and Anil Dev.
Winners’ list: Closest to pin: Yash Sharma; longest drive: Kabir Talwar; winner nett (h’cap 13-18): Ravi Burman; runner-up: Yoshika Mizuno; winner nett 0-12: Puneet Beriwala; runner-up: Kaushik Dutta; winner gross: Satish Mehta; runner-up: Ravi Burman.
Thomas continues climb
In Singapore, meanwhile, Rayhan Thomas came up with a bogey free 5-under 65 to push himself into contention with a round to go at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Championships.
The Dubai-based Thomas, who turns 19 soon, was tied eighth at 7-under 203 three shots behind the leader, Lin Yuxin.
Defending champion Lin, who will turn 18 next week, exploded with the week’s best of eight-under 62 to take the sole lead at 10-under 200.
Filipino Lloyd Jefferson Go (69) hung in well with a one-under 69 to be one behind Lin.
Five players, including 2016 champion Cheng Jin (70), 2018 Asian Games double gold medallist Keita Nakajima (67), Asiad team mate Takumi Kanaya (64), Thailand’s K.K. Limbhaust (68) and China’s Zheng Kai Bai (69), shared third place.
Thomas is in line to register the best finish by an Indian at the AAC, Khalin Joshi’s tied ninth in 2010.
Lahiri misses putts, cut
In California, Anirban Lahiri added a one-under 71 to his first round 73 to miss the cut at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open.
Lahiri had four birdies against a bogey and a double, but it was not enough as the cut fell at three-under.
Brandt Snedeker birdied the final two holes for a seven-under 65 and a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson and two others.
Snedeker was paired with alongside Fred Couples, who made his 500th cut this week. The Wyndham Championship winner hit eight birdies and a bogey for a 12-under total of 132.
Mickelson followed his opening 65 with a 69 to join Michael Thompson (65) and Ryan Moore (67) at 10 under in a share of second place.