DLF Golf and Country Club
New Delhi, India
A move from Dubai sees us in India this week and a new addition to the tour, the Avantha Masters in Dehli. Although a course that has been used on the Asian Tour for the last few years, the DLF Golf and Country Club represents a new challenge to many. With little course form and lack of stats for the results we do have here it feels as though we will have to assess the field more analytically than statistically.
What we do know about the DLF is that it was designed by Arnold Palmer and is a par 72, 7200 yard course that has been constructed to United States Golf Association (U.S.G.A) standards. Palmer himself claims that he designed the course in order, 'to give the player a course where good shots are rewarded' and looking over the individual hole descriptions a common theme seems to emerge - accuracy from the tee. An abundance of bunkers and water means that distance is no where near as important as accuracy, again supported by Palmer's claim that, 'the course reproaches you for the bad shots - you just try harder'.
The DLF has hosted the DLF Masters since 2007 as well as the Johnnie Walker Classic in 2008 and Honda Indian Open last year so we should have some previous course form to look over, albeit lacking in European stars. However, with many European Tour stars missing this week's event we are left with a relatively poor field with Jeev Milkha Singh at 59th in the world being the highest ranked player appearing.
With the above in mind I find myself backing the following players....
Jyoti Randhawa - Quite simply Randhawa's record here at the DLF speaks for itself. It is his home course and he knows it like the back of his hand as the last three DLF Masters show - 2007 (1st), 2008 (1st) and 2009 (4th) as well as an 8th place in the Johnny Walker Classic amongst stronger opposition. The New Dehli tournament was also the only one he played on the Indian Tour last year which shows the importance to him of his role as club ambassador. His DA and GIR don't stand out in either 2009 nor in the three tournaments he has played this year and two missed cuts in these three showings don't bode well but his course form simply can not be ignored. 2pts e/w @ 33/1 (Ladbrokes)
Ashok Kumar - Another player who calls the DLF his home course and therefore another who should know its ins and outs. His record confirms this as he has posted finishes of 3rd (DLF Masters 2009), 6th (Honda Indian Open 2009), 3rd (DLF Masters 2008) and T8th (DLF Masters 2007)
while he
comes into this tournament on the back of a PGTI Tour Championship win in December last year where he convincing beat the more favoured and shorter priced Gaganjeet Bhullar who finished 11th. Two other points to note are the fact that he may well be eager to prove his worth amongst stronger opponents after narrowly missing out on an Asian Tour card at 2010's Q-School following a disasterous last round and also that on the Indian Tour he can boast a top ten finishing percentage of over 72% over the last three years. 1pt Top Ten @ 9/1 (Skybet)