India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar will be eyeing his second European Tour title in Doha when he tees off at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters today at the Doha Golf Club.
Bhullar has been one of India’s top golfers for over a decade but he won his maiden European Tour title by a single stroke over a charging Anthony Quayle of Australia at the Fiji International in August 2018 to join Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri as the only Indians to win on the European Tour.
The victory was also his ninth on Asian Tour and 10th overall, becoming the most successful Indian player on Asian Tour and the first Indian to win on Australasia Tour.
The 30-year-old golfer, who is playing for the third time in Doha, feels the important thing this week is going to be coping up with conditions.
“Well… like any other week, I will try to play well and try to win,” Bhullar said.
“I think this week the most important thing to cope up with would be the weather because mainly it gets very windy and once it gets really windy you know you’ve got to keep the ball and play the ball low,” he said.
Bhullar is coming from last week’s storm-hit Oman Open where he slipped after spending some time in the top three, a disastrous start in the final round leading to a tied-27th finish.
After handling difficult conditions, he was hit by a bogey-bogey start followed by a double on fourth. From four-under after 54 holes, he fell to even par in a matter of four holes. Bhullar went on to finish the day at six-over 78 as he birdied the 12th, but again double-bogeyed 15th and bogeyed the 16th.
Bhullar first played in the Qatar Masters in 2014 and he was a member of the silver medallist Indian team in 2006 Asian Games. He is paired with England’s Gregory Scott and Korea’s Park Hyowon for the first two rounds.
“Greens are quite treacherous this year, I mean looking at the weather they had in the last few months, few dry patches on the green but other than that greens are good.”
Talking about the current golf scene in India, he feels it’s getting better.
“It’s definitely getting better. More and more players are stepping on the Asian Tour and then slowly graduating but we are still lacking in terms of infrastructure. Back in India we don’t have too many world-class golf courses where we could actually produce the next generation stars but the government is definitely doing their hundred percent,” he said.
“You know golf is a very elite game and you need at least 200 acres of land to lay the golf course, so it’s not an easy job for any private player and for the government. But having said that I think golfers are doing pretty good,” the Arjuna awardee said.
Bhullar will head to Kenya after the Qatar Masters, and has plans to play in the Malaysian Open and the Indian Open.
Bhullar’s compatriot SSP Chawrasia, who missed the cut in Oman, is also in the fray.
India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar will be appearing at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters only the second time.
