Indians set to outplay rivals at Avantha Masters – Golf Feature
Indian professional golfers have a great opportunity to retain the Avantha Masters trophy in India as the tournament begins at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Thursday, February 16, 2012.
Last year, golfing star SSP Chowrasia won the title and now he is aiming another victory in the event to become the first ever Indian to successfully defend the European Tour title.
There are a total of 27 Indian players to be featured in the 132-man field event. Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chowrasia, Anirban Lahiri, Himmat Singh Rai, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Kapoor, Rahil Gangjee and Chiragh Kumar are the star appearances to be seen at the
event.
All of these players have great records on the home soil and are prepared to take their opponents down in one of the richest golf events in India.
SSP Chowrasia, who was confident to defend his title, suffered a wrist injury while he was playing a practice round prior to the tournament.
Therefore, he pulled himself out of the Pro-Am event as suggested by his physiotherapist, to recover completely before the tournament officially begins on Thursday.
“I pulled out of the Pro-Am as I wanted to give my wrist some rest and didn't want to take any risk for Thursday's tee off,” said Chowrasia.
He added by saying that he is still confident to register his third European Tour win. Moreover, all the other Indians participating in the event have a great chance to prove their skills on a course that suits their style of playing.
“The way the course has been prepared will definitely help an Indian to win. The greens are grainy and the course is not playing long which suits the game of local pros and I am sure somebody between us will take the Avantha honours,” he said.
Jeev, who was the favourite among Indian fans to win the event, has been fighting cold for the last one week.
Therefore, he is likely to face serious troubles while making his shots in the cold weather at Delhi.
Overall, there are bright chances for the Indian players to outclass their opponents in the event because of their excellent track record in India.
Their dominance in the home events can be judged by their performance in the five tournaments held on their home soil last year.
They won three of them and a secured a runner-up and a third place finish each in the other two events.
Therefore, the players, who regularly play on the Tour throughout the year, cannot take the local players easy and will have to work hard in order to place their names on top of the leaderboard.
It will not be an easy task for them to defeat the Indians as they do in other parts of the world. It has been observed by many golf experts that many big names falter against Indians when they are playing in India.
According to analysts, Indian players know how to fully capitalise on the advantage of home ground and home crowd.
This is the reason that winning in India has been an uphill task for many non-Indian players.
However, the visiting players will have an advantage of experience that they can use against their Indian competitors.
As they are used to playing on open courses such as the one available at the DLF Golf and Country Club, they can outplay their opponents by showing some consistency and class.
By and large, Indians do have an added advantage against their opponents and are favourites to win the title again this year.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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