By Rahul Banerji
An interesting press statement landed in my in-box this morning. It said Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD), India’s 2011 Wold Cup-winning captain has successfully picked up the sticks, like his 1983 predecessor Kapil Dev.
Whether MSD will achieve the level of achievement Kapil has found on the golf course remains to be seen, but among the other claims in the statement from the Metuchen Golf and Country Club in New Jersey, USA, one is that he can already hit it 300 yards off the tee.
If you look at Dhoni’s phenomenal record as a long hitter particularly with those whippy wrists that could cart the larger and heavier cricket ball effortlessly over a hundred yards, that’s about par for the course.
What was interesting was the club’s claim that he “has become quite an accomplished golfer”.
August company
This should not come as a surprise, considering the likes of Garry Sobers, Brian Lara, Kevin Pietersen and a host of others, including Sachin Tendulkar, have turned from the willow game to golf and become pretty decent performers.
Sachin in fact recently celebrated his first eagle, at the Bombay Presidency, the feat widely shared on Twitter.
But let me share the essence of the statement.
“The Metuchen Golf and Country Club is proud to announce that the legendary cricketer, M.S. Dhoni, who is an honorary member of the club … recently played in his 1st major Metuchen Golf & Country Club tournament on September 13, 2019.
“Dhoni has become quite an accomplished golfer and together with local member, Rajiv Sharma, finished 2nd in their flight category. They won four out of five matches in this tournament.
“Everyone in the club feels that he can be a scratch golfer if he plays golf regularly, he can hit his drive about 300 yards. We understand Dhoni is already looking forward to next year’s tournament and vows to apply the same focus that made him a world class cricketer to his new love, golf.”
And now that you have a visual of his technique, what do YOU think of MSD’s probable prospects as golfer. (BTW, a little birdie has just informed TTT that MSD bought his first golf set in 2011). So he’s been at it for a while now.
Back to the grind
On a more prosaic note, competitive golf that is played on a daily basis, continued around the world.
At the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, top Indian Rayhan Thomas was shared 28th after 1-over par first round of 73 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai.
In Europe, Gaganjeet Bhullar opened with birdies over his first three holes at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship before settling down to a more sedate round. After 15 holes, he was tied 19th on the Kingsbarns Course on 4-under, while Shubhankar Sharma was level par after 11.
And at the Jaipur Open, Syed Saqib Ahmed grinded it out to hang on to the lead after three days at the Rambagh Golf Club.
Close battle
It promises to be an interesting tussle at the Tata Steel PGTI event with two Bangalore golfers within a shot of each other, M. Dharma lying one back of day three leader Saqib Ahmed.
While Saqib shot a solid 2-under-68 for a total of 17-under-193, Dharma returned a 5-under-65 to total 16-under-194, reducing Saqib’s overnight three-shot lead to just one stroke at the Rs. 30 lakh event.
Gurgaon-based rookie Priyanshu Singh’s round of 63 carried him to third at 14-under-196 on the leader-board.
Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha, an Asian Tour regular, fired the day’s best score, a flawless 62, to be tied seventh at 12-under-198.
Saqib (64-61-68), who equalled the week’s lowest score of 61 on day two, had a productive front nine on Thursday with three birdies including a chip-in. With his lead increasing to four shots at the turn, Saqib seemed to be on course to take control.
The birdies however, dried up and the 25-year-old, who won his only event on the PGTI in February 2018, ended up dropping a shot on the 17th to close the day with just a one-shot advantage.
Saqib said, “It was a decent round but not what I would’ve expected. After being three-under through the first eight holes, I was looking to drive home the advantage. But I just didn’t create enough opportunities for myself on the back nine.”
Dramatic round
Dharma (62-67-65), overnight joint third and four off the lead, rose into contention as a result of his dramatic third round of 65.
Dharma, who like Saqib hails from the Karnataka Golf Association course, had a poor start with a double and a bogey to be two-over for the day.
The 33-year-old, a two-time winner on the PGTI, hit a purple patch thereafter as he drained three long birdie putts and also nailed an eagle from 30 feet. He narrowly missed out on another eagle conversion from 30 feet and added another birdie to wrap up his round.
“I felt I fought back really well after the early disappointments,” Dharma said later.
“The eagle on the 14th helped me relax as I knew that just another one or two birdies from there on would put me in a good position.”
Ludhiana’s Pukhraj Singh Gill (66), Kolkata’s Divyanshu Bajaj (67) and Gurgaon-based Abhinav Lohan (69), were tied fourth at 13-under-197.
Defending champion Aman Raj (65) of Patna was tied 10th at 11-under-199 while PGTI Order of Merit leader Rashid Khan (65) of Delhi occupied tied 23rd place at 8-under-202.
Also read: Spinning a yarn of spinners in Fortune Turners
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