Bengaluru, June 9 (IANS) Five-time winner on the Asian Tour Gaganjeet Bhullar, representing the Jaypee Greens Greater Noida in the fourth Louis Philippe Cup commencing here on Thursday, is hoping to come out on top in the 54-hole strokeplay competition.
Bhullar will be joined by Rashid Khan, winner of the 2014 SAIL-SBI Open and 2014 Chiangmai Golf Classic, and Shamim Khan, the The Hemisphere PGTI Masters 2015 champion.
Bhullar, who has played for Dev Ellora Chandigarh in the first year of Louis Philippe Cup and Jaypee Greens Greater Noida in the last two years, said here on Tuesday: “With Rashid winning two Asian Tour events last year and Shamim who had eight top-10 finishes on the PGTI Tour last year, we have a great chance of winning this week.
“Both of them are household names and won a number of tournaments on Indian Tour. I have also produced a lot of low numbers here at the KGA as an amateur and that is the only thing I will remember when I go to the first tee box and keep hopes high.”
Commenting on the change in the format, Bhullar said: “The change in the format from knockout to strokeplay this year will also help us. In individual tournaments, whatever you do, you are the one who is responsible but in this team format, you get a lot of help from your partners.
“So two guys can actually go for the green on par-five and one guy can lay up and be sure about the par. We are going to follow a similar strategy and hopefully that should work to our benefit.”
The Arjuna Awardee, who tore a ligament in his left wrist in September last year and has partially moved to the US recently, added: “During the off season, I go to California and train with my coach Noah Montgomery. I bought a house there and I also have access to one of the clubs near my house.
“I would have loved to spend the holidays in India and work on my game, but unfortunately we don’t have that kind of infrastructure right now.
“I am confident of playing in the Rio Olympics next year. We still have got about 13 months and I feel my game is right there. I am also going to Vipassana next week for my annual 10-days meditation programme that I have been attending for the last three years.
“Then, I will be playing the Omega European Masters in Switzerland next month and I am expecting a couple of invites from the European Tour as well. The win can come anytime, may be this week or in the next tournament.”
Apart from Greater Noida, there will be six more teams that will play in the Louis Philippe Cup. Navratna Ahmedabad, Zion Hills Bengaluru, Dev Ellora Pune, DLF The Crest Gurgaon, Laqshya Mumbai and TAKE Chennai will join Greater Noida to vie for the coveted trophy and prize purse of Rs.36 Lakhs.
Meanwhile, professional golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha led his team Zion Hills Bengaluru to victory in the first Pro-am event of the Louis Philippe Cup on Tuesday. Chadha and his teammates Sridhar Viswanathan, Deepak Krishnakutty and Priya Alex carded a net 50 at a combined team total of 22-under par to emerge winners.