By Rahul Banerji
Argentine Miguel Carballo will be hoping to cash in on recent form as he takes on a strong Indian challenge at the $300,000 Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship that opens at the Jack Nicklaus-designed facility near Gurgaon on Thursday.
The Bangalore trio of Viraj Madappa, Chikkarangappa S. and Khalin Joshi will spearhead the home challenge that sees a full field of 156 in action over the next two days, all of whom will be hoping to make the cut despite the intense heat and a testing course.
The last time the Classic GCC hosted an international field was in 2009, and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat walked away the winner with an astonishing 32-under par total, which still stands as a world record for a professional tournament.
This time, however, things promise to be a bit different with a thick rough adjoining the Classic fairways and the greens running slower than expected.
Testing times
It makes for an interesting challenge and one that promises to test the international contingent led by Korea’s Taehee Lee, 35, winner of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, 26, who is hoping to end a run of second place finishes and Thai talent, Kosuke Hamamoto, 20, who was runner-up in Chinese Taipei last week.
The field of 156 will have players from about 24 countries and will be an interesting clash between the fresh and the experienced from the Asian Tour.
Other Indians poised to push for honours include Ajeetesh Sandhu, winner in Chinese Taipei in 2017, Rashid Khan, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, Patna’s Aman Raj, Kshitij Naved Kaul, Aadil Bedi and Karandeep Kochhar, fresh off a Top-10 in Taiwan.
The field also includes veterans Jyoti Randhawa, the 2002 Asian Tour no. 1 and winner of multiple titles, and Singapore legend Mardan Mamat, who has tasted success in India.
Other stars, who have won on the Asian Tour include veteran Mukesh Kumar, winner of more than 100 titles on the Indian PGTI Tour, Digvijay Singh, C. Muniyappa, Himmat Singh and veterans Feroze Ali and Vijay Kumar.
Two standout amateurs, Kartik Sharma, who has just made the International Team for Junior President’s Cup in Melbourne later this year and the long-hitting Harshjeet Sethie are in the Classic field and will represent India at the Nomura Cup later this year.
Veteran tourist
Carballo, who ended his search for a maiden Asian Tour title in Indonesia two weeks back, played in the United States between 2007 and 2014, including two years on the PGA Tour.
He won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, the second rung Tour in the US. Before coming to US, Carballo played on the Latin American and the European Challenge Tours. He turned to the Korn Ferry Tour for another stint from 2015 to 2017 before coming to the Asian Development Tour and Asian Tour at the start of 2018.
Kawamura, who was second three times on the Japan Tour last year also finished second at the Hero Indian Open earlier this year. He is back in India in search of a first win since his maiden success in 2013.
Kawamura was 20 when he won the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in Osaka in 2013. After that he had a bunch of Top-10s, but no wins, while Korea’s Taehee Lee, winner of the highly competitive Maekyung Open this year, will be another strong contender.
In all, six in the Habitat for Humanity standings on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit are in the field for the event with Chikkarangappa and Ajeetesh Sandhu being the highest ranked Indians.
Bearing the heat
Rankings however, are expected to matter less than the ability of the players to cope with the intense heat that has descended over the National Capital Region and most of the players who were out on the course for Wednesday’s Pro-Am said temperatures would definitely be a factor.
“I’m coming here from Jakarta where we played the Indonesian Open and have to say the heat is much more than I had expected,” said South African Daniel Van Tonder.
“I knew the temperatures were expected to be on the higher side, but it will definitely be a challenge coping over four days at the Classic,” he added.
“Putting together four good rounds will be testing, but that is why we play. I have played here before but not in these conditions and while the course looks in great shape, it will demand accurate play,” said Take Solutions 2018 winner Madappa.
“The setup we have seen in the last two days is such that you can attack the fairways and greens, but accuracy will be the key. The roughs are testing, and you need to stay on the fairway as much as possible.”
Also read: Kartik Sharma makes the cut for Junior Presidents Cup
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