New Delhi: Sports venues, a day before an event, buzz with activity and on Wednesday, the Delhi Golf Club embodied that norm. Shining news standees, polished signages, giant billboards, fresh coat of paint, and busier-than-usual volunteers — the Lodhi Course of the iconic club was all this and more as it geared up for the golfing spectacle that $4 million DP World India Championship promises to offer.
As the afternoon sun bathed the putting greens, a number of Indian pros made a beeline to finetune their short game, an aspect that’ll be critical on a course that bares its traditional challenges.
Your scoring opportunities are from your second shots and your approach play, but you have to be playing those second shots from the fairway,” the 37-year-old said. “I still think the tee shots are very important. Sometimes when people talk about a second-shot golf course, it means that the tee shot is irrelevant, which is not the case around here. The rough is very long and if you find yourself out of position off the tee, you’re going to have difficulties. “The general gist of the course stays the same. You have to hit fairways to be able to control your golf ball and be able to shoot a good score, but the rough has just made it a little bit more critical. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he puts precision over power and plays the percentage well. Add his consistency to it. The win at DGC was followed by a second-place finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and T3 at the DP World Tour Championship.
When I do look back, I’m always going to be grateful for the moments I got with Frankie there on the 18th green,” he said. That said, among the international star cast, the Englishman appears to have the game best suited for the course.
“This tournament last year came at a time when I was playing amazing golf, probably some of the best of my career. Fleetwood’s win last year came after his breakthrough first PGA Tour title at the TOUR Championship, securing him the FedEx Cup.
