By Rahul Banerji
Shiv Kapur battled into the upper reaches of the leaderboard on the opening day of the $5 million PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers.in Jeddah on Thursday.
Kapur was 4-under par 66 in shared seventh place with Dustin Johnson of the United States and four others as Matteo Manassero of Italy emerged the surprise first round leader with a sizzling 8-under 62.
Also in the top-15 was another Delhi golfer, Rashid Khan, one shot behind Kapur’s group, in tied 13th place with nine others.
The bunch included PGA Tour stars Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith, Jason Kokrak, and Henrik Stenson.
A further shot adrift was Shubhankar Sharma in tied 23rd along with Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and six-time Major winner Phil Mickelson.
Even writing this evokes a surreal feeling for it is rare for Indians from the domestic pro tour or the Asian Tour to rub shoulders with superstars from the PGA Tour.
Fitting tribute
It is also a tribute to their talent and concentration.
While Shubhankar and Kapur have played around the world, it is not often that Rashid or Chikkarangappa S,. Vuraj Madappa, Veer Ahlawat and Khalin Joshi get to appear on the same leaderboard as the game’s biggest names.
And they were joined by a host of top Asian names too with Asian Tour Order of Merit topper Joohyung Kim sharing fourth place with defending champion Johnson and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai.
Another Thai, Rattanon Wannasrichan and Korea’s Bio Kim are placed along with Rashid making for a healthy Asian presence in the opening event of their season.
Sharing second place behind Manassero at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club were England’s Sam Horsfield and Adri Arnaus from Spain on 64s.
But even with 5 million dollars on the line, the golf in Jeddah is almost a sideshow,
Fully 21 of the top 50 golfers in the world are in the field amidst renewed talk of a breakaway Saudi Golf League, SGL, that has been backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Deep pockets
The PIF has reportedly put a staggering 2 billion dollars on the line to fund the breakaway league. Former US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau has been offered an eye-popping $135 million to be the active face of the SGL.
The two top existing pro golf bodies, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) have threatened lifetime bans on those signing up with the SGL.
According to reports, hundreds of millions were paid to flesh out the Saudi International field, particularly to top names on the PGA Tour, the effort being fronted by former world no. 1, Greg Norman of Australia.
But more of this another time.
On Thursday, Abu Dhabi qualifier winner Madappa and Ahlawat were T67 on 1-over par 71s, Chikka T80 with a 72 and Joshi T100 on 4-over 76.
Also read: Viraj Madappa tops race to qualify for Saudi International
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