Two weeks after one Indian golfer swept to glory by winning the final event of the 2006 European Tour season, another is blazing a trail in the first event of the new campaign with Jyoti Randhawa taking a one stroke lead in the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.
After Jeev Milkha Singh won the season-ending Volvo Masters, Randhawa picked up the baton for his country by posting an opening seven under par 65 at Sheshan International Golf Club to lead 2005 US Open Champion Michael Campbell, Scotland’s Marc Warren and Korea’s Yang Yong-eun by one stroke.
Padraig Harrington got his new reign as European Number One off to a solid start, lying a further shot back alongside Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol, on five under par while the World Number One, Tiger Woods, failed to ignite with a level par 72 and has plenty of work to do if he is to continue his winning streak to seven strokeplay events.
“This is one of the biggest events that I’ve played in my career,” said Randhawa. “Whenever you play a $5 million event, it’s huge. The fields for The Open or WGC events are not far off what we have here this week. Only a few American’s are missing but there are a lot of top 20 players in the world here. It almost feels like playing in a Major.”
It was a theme running through the tournament with Tiger Woods among those who have dubbed the HSBC Champions “Asia’s Major”.
Campbell may be one of the four Major Champions in the field but was nonetheless surprised to find himself at six under par after a three week break from the game.
“I played 18 holes in those three weeks, and I arrived on Monday, played a practice round on Tuesday and Wednesday, and boom, shooting six under par today was a very surprising start for me,” he said.
“I think I had no expectations. This year I put too much pressure on myself I believe to perform, and hence, I haven't won yet. But hopefully, you know, this week will change things. But I think having no expectations and just going out and playing and enjoying myself is definitely the turning point I think this year so far.”
Warren was certainly enjoying his round after racing to the turn in 30 and moving to seven under par with a birdie on the 11th. But after dropping his first shot on the 13th he then has the misfortune of losing his ball off the tee on the 15th, believing it may have been picked up by a spectator.
Both Warren and his playing partner thought they had hit ideal drives off a blind tee shot but could find no sign of their balls. Without any evidence that the balls had been picked up, both had to declare them lost and play three off the tee. Warren shrugged off the setback to make birdie with his second ball and birdie the next to finish one off the pace.
“I think I would have been one in front if that hadn't happened,” said Warren, the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. “I played three with the next ball, which kind of kept the head on a little bit, because obviously I was disappointed with what happened.”
Harrington is looking to keep his position as European Number One for longer than a couple of weeks with his sights on a win to stay top of the European tree.
“It's only a week break between schedules,” said the Irishman. “If you win here, you'll probably hold on to the Order of Merit lead through Christmas, so hopefully I'll do that.
“I played nice and solid on the front especially, had a lot of chances. On the back nine I holed a couple more putts and had to get up and down as well. So the back nine was good scoring. The front nine was excellent tee to green. I feel good mentally, finding a happy place out there.”
Woods finished runner-up in the HSBC Champions a year ago but struggled from the moment he pulled his drive into the trees on his second hole, the 11th, on his way to a double bogey. Although he clawed his way back to two under par he finished poorly with two bogeys in his last four to lie at level par.
“I was in position to get to three or four under par today,” said Woods. “I got to two under par, missed a short birdie putt, made a bogey on the par three. Missed another short birdie putt and then made bogey on the par five. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way, it went the other way and left myself just an awful lot of work with three days to go.”
Woods wasn’t the only person attracting attention with the tennis World Number One, Roger Federer, among the spectators ahead of his appearance in the Shanghai Masters this weekend.
“Roger is one of my friends, so it's nice to see him out here following and watching. More importantly, it's nice to see him out here because he's obviously getting ready for his event on Sunday, and nice of him to take some time out to come and watch me smash it around a little bit.”
