Bhandari will be the man to beat

Vivek Bhandari, riding one of the hottest streaks ever witnessed on the Indian Golf Tour, will start as favourite when the Rs three million Honda-Siel PGA Championship of India begins at the hallowed precincts of Delhi Golf Club from Thursday.

In his last eight starts -- three on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour and five on the Asian PGA Tour -- Bhandari has wielded his clubs to amazing effect. He won two titles -- the Hero Honda Open in Bangalore and the Noida Open last week -- and finished runner-up thrice -- in the Cotton City Open at Coimbatore, the Mercuries Masters in Taiwan and the Shin Han Don Hae Open in Korea.

Awaiting Bhandari on Sunday would be the biggest prize-money cheque on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour worth Rs 4.86,000, a chance to go on top of the Order of Merit and the prestige of being called 'twice Honda-Siel PGA Champion', having won the event way back in 1997.

If the smart money would be on Bhandari, it would be prudent to save something for defending champion Jyoti Randhawa, Mukesh Kumar and Daniel Chopra of Sweden.

Randhawa, who narrowly missed winning in 1996 and 1998 when he lost in playoffs to David Carter and Uttam Singh Mundy, was in supreme form last year when he won the title. However, he is not in the best of form after making certain changes in his swing. The changes seem like setting in, as Randhawa set a course record in the opening round of US PGA Tour Q-School last week and comfortably made it to the second stage. The eight-under 64 at Martin Downs Country Club could just be the boost he required.

Mukesh, who has won the Mahindra Player of the Year award for the last two seasons, won twice this season, including the first 'major', Sher-e-Kashmir Open, and finished runner-up in his last two outings. Given the brilliant form he is enjoying and the consistency he has shown over the past two seasons, Mukesh might just avenge his one-stroke loss to Bhandari last week.

On the other hand, Chopra, who honed his skills as a junior on this very course, has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent times. The short-game maestro lost his form completely in 2000 and also lost his playing privileges in the European Tour. However, Chopra, who won the inaugural Honda-Siel PGA Championship in 1994, rediscovered his magical touch this year and won the Mercuries Masters on the Asian PGA Tour before finishing second in Austrian Masters, a European Challenge Tour event.

The three-member Malaysian contingent and Wallie Coatsee, a South African PGA Tour player, have already arrived for the tournament.

The Honda-Siel PGA Championship begins with a pro-am on Wednesday, starting 6:30 am. The pro-am will see some of the finest pros team up with amateurs.