Indian supremacy under threat
at Hero Honda Masters

India's professional golfers will face their toughest challenge in five years of the Hero Honda Masters, when the $300,000 event on the Asian PGA Davidoff Tour tees off at the Arnold Palmer-designed DLF Golf & Country Club from Thursday.

An exceptionally strong presence of the Asian PGA Tour regulars, including such established names as last year's No 3 Andrew Pitts, No 4 Thaworn Wiratchant, No 6 Simon Yates, No 7 James Kingston, Anthony Kang, Zaw Moe, Prayad Marksaeng and Chawalit Plaphol, will certainly make things difficult for the local golfers.

In the past four editions of the tournament, Indians have won the last three - Jyoti Randhawa winning it back-to-back in 1998 and 1999, and Arjun Atwal in 2000.

In the inaugural year of the tournament, Gaurav Ghei produced one of his trademark final-day charges and almost gatecrashed into American Ted Purdy's party plans, before falling short by one stroke.

Defending champion Arjun Atwal, who became only the second Indian to qualify for the European PGA Tour after Jeev Milkha Singh, was candid in admitting the threat to his crown.

"The field this year is very deep and there are several names that come to my mind if you really ask me for a favourite. I would still think that an Indian golfer will triumph on Sunday, but it will depend on who possesses the hottest putter. That is going to be the key this week," said the 29-year-old who finished fourth last week in Myanmar, despite leading after three rounds.

The good news, as far as Atwal is concerned, is that he has overcome the back injury scare that almost forced him to pull out after the second round at London Myanmar Open.

"I went to my doctor here last evening and everything seems okay. I am not feeling much pain and I hope that it gets better as I have a tough schedule ahead of me," added Atwal, who heads for Singapore and Malaysia in the coming weeks.

"I will be very surprised if the winning score is 18-under again," said Jeev Milkha Singh, who will be playing in India after almost 16 months. "The course is playing really long after the changes made recently and this fact can be exploited by some of the Asian PGA Tour regulars who can belt the ball some distance," added the European and Japanese PGA Tour star.

The par for the course has been changed to 71 this year and several new tees have been added. The 7,151-yard course is almost 80 yards longer than what the pros faced in 2000. The par-5 18th has been changed to a 490-yard par 4. The 567-yard ninth has been increased to 607 yards with pushed back tee.

One man eager to get on to the course was twice Hero Honda Masters winner Jyoti Randhawa. A good finish last week (fifth at Myanmar) has boosted his morale and the prospect of playing the tournament at his home course is exciting the 29-year-old.

"My game is slowly getting back into the groove. It would not be right to say that local knowledge will help me do better, but if I can keep my mind in control, I think I can win the title again," said Randhawa on the eve of the tournament.

Andrew Pitts, the highest ranked Asian PGA Tour player here, however, had no hesitation in naming Arjun Atwal as his favourite. "Arjun has been playing exceptionally well and he narrowly missed winning last week's Myanmar Open. Wind is going to be a major factor in the next four days. If it is up like today, I would predict something like 12-under as the winning score," said the Acer Taiwan Open winner from the United States, who finished third in the last Hero Honda Masters.

After the heat of Myanmar, Wednesday's chill and early-morning fog, which delayed the pro-am by almost two-and-half hours and made it a nine-hole event, must have come as a shock to the Asian PGA Tour players. However, the good news from the Met department was that much-improved weather is in the offing for the next four days.