Published on March 20, 2023

MARANA, Arizona: Seeking his first professional win in nearly eight years, Danny Lee shrugged off a missed birdie attempt on the second hole of Sunday’s playoff at LIV Golf Tucson, and kept his nerve to sink the winning putt from off the green the next time round.

When he missed the putt, he muttered to himself, “What have you done, you idiot,” but he didn’t dwell on the missed opportunity. With a chance to win the individual title on the third playoff hole, the Iron Heads GC member rolled in the birdie putt at The Gallery Golf Club to claim the individual title in just his second start since joining the LIV Golf League.

The South Korean-born Lee, who represents New Zealand, defeated Carlos Ortiz (Fireballs GC), Brendan Steele (HyFlyers GC) and Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger GC) in the second playoff in LIV Golf history. The last time Lee won, in 2015, he also won in a four-man playoff.

“Maybe it was a coincidence, I don’t know,” the 32-year-old Lee said. “But it feels pretty amazing right now.”

In the team competition, Fireballs GC, captained by Sergio Garcia, won by four strokes over 4Aces GC, with Lee’s Iron Heads GC claiming third for the team’s first-ever podium finish. The Fireballs become just the second team to claim multiple titles, having won last year at the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok.

The Fireballs were fueled by Ortiz’s 6-under 65, the best round of the day and an impressive one, given the challenging conditions for the majority of the final round due to wind gusts above 20 mph. At one point, the Fireballs led by 12 strokes before the 4Aces rallied late to close the gap.

Ortiz’s low round put him in the playoff, but he was eliminated with a bogey on the first extra hole.

“Obviously, super-excited about getting another team win after last year in Bangkok, and super-proud of all of them,” Garcia said. “Especially Carlos, the way he played today. Shame he couldn’t get the individual win. But what a great effort.”

Besides Ortiz’s round, the other two Fireballs counting scores belonged to Abraham Ancer (1-over 72) and Sergio Garcia (2-over 73).

“We felt like we didn’t play very good at all,” Ancer said, “but Carlos definitely bailed us out today. We did a really good job to play good at the right times as a team, and that’s what got us the trophy.”

Said Ortiz, who finished second last year in his LIV Golf debut in Portland: “I think I did a good job of taking advantage of the easy holes, and I just tried to hold on on the hard holes. I think days like this are easy to move up the leaderboard if you shoot low, and I just did a good job today.”

While the Spanish-speaking Fireballs controlled the team leaderboard down the stretch, multiple players had a chance to seize control of the individual leaderboard.

Second-round leader Marc Leishman opened the door with bogeys in two of his first three holes. Charles Howell III, the individual winner in the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba, opened with an eagle and was 4 under through his first six holes. At one point, he held a two-shot lead but a triple bogey at the par-3 eighth brought him back to the pack.

Ortiz was making his run with five birdies in his first nine holes before suffering a double bogey at the 10th.

Eventually, Oosthuizen – captain of the all-South African Stinger GC – became the front-runner. But he suffered three bogeys in a four-hole stretch late in the round. When he bogeyed the par-3 16th, there was a four-way tie for the lead.

Lee, Steele and Ortiz each finished at 9 under, while Oosthuizen, playing in the lead group, was 8 under after a bogey at the par-5 17th. But he knocked his approach shot close into 18 and made the birdie putt to join the playoff.

From there, it took three more trips through the 18th hole for Lee to post the only birdie of the playoff – and make his long-awaited return to the winner’s circle.

“I haven’t won since 2015. I just felt like winning is just not my thing, but today just changed that,” Lee said. “It’s just good to see I’m capable of playing some good golf again.”

TEAM COUNTING SCORES

Here are the standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Tucson. The three best scores from each team count in every round for their total team score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.

1. FIREBALLS GC (-25): Carlos Ortiz 65, Abraham Ancer 72, Sergio Garcia 73 (Rd. 3 total: -3)

2. 4ACES GC (-21): Patrick Reed 66, Dustin Johnson 68, Peter Uihlein 68 (Rd. 3 total: -11)

3. IRON HEADS GC (-19): Scott Vincent 69, Danny Lee 69, Kevin Na 71 (Rd. 3 total: -4)

4. STINGER GC (-16): Louis Oosthuizen 70, Branden Grace 70, Charl Schwartzel 72. (Rd. 3 total: -1)

5. RIPPER GC (-16): Matt Jones 69, Cameron Smith 70, Jediah Morgan 75 (Rd. 3 total: +1)

6. HYFLYERS GC (-15): Brendan Steele 70, Cameron Tringale 74, Phil Mickelson 75 (Rd. 3 total: +6)

7. TORQUE GC (-14): Mito Pereira 67, David Puig 71, Joaquin Niemann 73 (Rd. 3 total: -2)

8. RANGEGOATS GC (-12): Talor Gooch 69, Harold Varner III 71, Bubba Watson 73 (Rd. 3 total: E)

9. CRUSHERS GC (-12): Paul Casey 70, Charles Howell III 71, Bryson DeChambeau 73 (Rd. 3 total: +1)

10. SMASH GC (-8): Matthew Wolff 72, Brooks Koepka 73, Jason Kokrak 73 (Rd. 3 total: +5)

11. CLEEKS GC (-5): Richard Bland 68, Graeme McDowell 72, Bernd Wiesberger 72 (Rd. 3 total: -1)

12. MAJESTICKS GC (-4): Sam Horsfield 70, Lee Westwood 73, Ian Poulter 74 (Rd. 3 total: +4)

Lead Photo
TUCSON, ARIZONA – MARCH 19: Overall individual winner; Danny Lee of Iron Heads GC celebrates winning the LIV Golf Invitational – Tucson at The Gallery Golf Club on March 19, 2023 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Published on March 19, 2023

Filipino Miguel Tabuena fired an inspired seven-under-par 65 to win The DGC Open presented by Mastercard at Delhi Golf Club today and claim his first title on the Asian Tour in just over four years.

The 28 year old, six behind overnight leader Rashid Khan from India at the start of the day, confidently glided around DGC’s challenging Lodhi Course shooting seven birdies and no bogeys to finish on 12 under and beat Khan by one.

Khan, himself chasing a first Asian Tour victory in nine years, closed with a 72, while Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat finished one shot back to claim third place outright with a 68.

Tabuena, playing in the penultimate group, gradually reeled Khan, who started the day with a three-shot lead over countryman Chikkarangappa S, in and was four behind him at the turn, thanks to three birdies, before a brilliant back nine saw him catch and overtake the Indian.

The Filipino birdied 10, 12, 15 and 16 while Khan dropped shots on 15 and 17, where he had a bad lie in a greenside trap on the par three and failed to get up and down. Khan needed an eagle on the par-five 18^th to draw level, but his approach just missed the green from where he chipped to four feet and made a four.

A one hour and 20 minute delay caused by inclement weather while Khan was playing the 14^th did little to help the India’s chances, while Tabuena’s round was one short of the course record.

“I feel great,” said Tabuena, who becomes only the second player from his country to win in India after his legendary compatriot Ben Arda’s success in the Indian Open in 1969.

“I have been playing well, very well for the past few months and I really believed that another win was coming very soon. I told myself to just stick to the game plan, you have been playing awesome the first few days.”

The win completes something of a comeback for Tabuena who only just kept his Tour card on the Order of Merit in 2022 taking the last spot and who had to deal with the trauma of his father having a heart by-pass last year.

He first tasted victory on the Asian Tour at the Philippine Open in 2015 before his second win at the Queen’s Cup at the end of 2018.

“It is very, very easy to get too aggressive at Delhi Golf Club and I was very, very happy with how we stuck mentally to our game plan,” he added.

“I executed each shot the way I wanted to. It is hard to describe, it is great to be back in the winner’s circle and I really believe there is way more room for improvement still.

“To be honest bogey free Delhi Golf Club on a Sunday is probably the best feeling in the world. As soon as I got my scorecard I thought ‘did I really just shoot seven under in Delhi Golf Club at one of the hardest courses we play on the Asian Tour?’ I shot one of the best rounds of my career on a Sunday. I didn’t force any shots, even though it was very easy to. I am pretty overwhelmed, I am pretty tired physically and mentally also.”

Khan will be bitterly disappointed not to have prevailed today. Since winning the SAIL-SBI Open at DGC in 2014 he has now finished second on five occasions here. He was also second twice on the Asian Tour last year, suggesting his time for another victory will surely come soon.

“I wasn’t hitting it well at all and the worst part was that this is the first time in my life where I couldn’t hit hard,” he said.

“I wasn’t able to swing it well. I have a problem in my swing which I’m working on, and I played this week only on my putter, that’s it. And I just didn’t hole my putts today.

“On the 17th, I had to go for it. I was trying to hit my eight iron and I thinned it again and ended up making a bogey. So, you know when you are two shots back and going into the last hole, that’s different.

“If I had gone aggressive today, the score could have been even worse. During the break, I went to the range and was hitting it well but on the golf course it was a different story. I am taking an off next week.”

The Asian Tour journeys to the World City Championship at the Hong Kong Golf Club next week from March 23-26.

 

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Marc Leishman hasn’t had many opportunities in recent years to enter the final round of a golf tournament as the solo leader.

“There’s been a few here and there,” the 39-year-old Ripper GC team member said. “But it’s been a year or two.”

He’ll get to reacquaint himself with the pressure now after shooting a second-round-under 66 to move to 11 under at LIV Golf Tucson. That gives him a two-shot lead over Sergio Garcia going into Sunday’s final round at The Gallery Golf Club.

“Obviously you play early in the tournament to try to put yourself into a good position, and I’ve played well enough to do my first part of the job,” said Leishman, who’s seeking his 14th career pro victory. “But there’s probably more than half the work to do tomorrow.”

In the team competition, Garcia’s Fireballs GC have slept on the lead as recently as last October when they won LIV Golf Bangkok. Unlike that tournament, when the Fireballs entered the final day with a seven-shot lead, their lead this time is much smaller.

Thanks to Garcia’s 65, Eugenio Chacarra’s 67 and Carlos Ortiz’ 68, the Fireballs are at 22 under – just one shot ahead of Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC. Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC are another four shots back.

“Obviously super happy about how the team has done the first two days, even more so today. Very, very strong day,” said Garcia, the Fireballs captain. “… We still have to do more of the same. If we think that it’s done, that it’s over, then we’re going to get passed left and right.”

Indeed, with three counting scores, the potential for volatility on the team leaderboard was on full display Saturday. First-round leaders Torque GC had the least productive day of any of the 12 teams and fell into a tie for eighth. At one point midway in the second round, four teams shared the lead before the Fireballs grabbed the lead down the stretch.

“We’ve seen over the past 10 events how quickly leaderboards can change out on the golf course with a team,” said Oosthuizen, whose Stinger GC is seven shots back. “Five, six behind is not a lot from the team aspect. You need three guys to play really well, and hopefully we can put three good rounds together tomorrow.”

The HyFlyers had three terrific rounds on Saturday to shoot a cumulative 15 under, best of any team, thanks to Brendan Steele’s 65, Cameron Tringale’s 66 and Mickelson’s 67. The HyFlyers had a share of third place in one tournament during the inaugural 2022 Invitational Series but now find themselves with their best chance to claim a team trophy.

“We’re going to have to be really aggressive,” said Steele, who joined LIV Golf this season as one of six new members. “We’re going to have to keep doing what we did today because obviously the scores were really good today.”

Leishman also may have to be aggressive in order to fend off his chasers, as eight players are within four shots of the lead.

One of those is Charles Howell III, tied for third at eight under with Tringale, Steele and Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen. Howell won the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba with a final-round eight-under 63. Is there another 63 out there for the taking on the South Course?

“Probably not for me, maybe for someone else,” said Howell, who plays for Crushers GC. “I think the hole locations are really difficult. I think it’s really hard to get the ball close, the slope and the greens and all that. You’ve got to putt really well to do that because you’re not going to hit close very often. You’ve got to take advantage of the par fives to do it.

“It may be out there but it’s going to be one heck of a round to do it.”

Leishman realizes he’ll enter Sunday with a target on his back.

“There’s a lot of great players that are just behind me,” he said. “It’s a course where you can make a lot of birdies, and if you’re a little bit off, you can make a lot of others. So you can lose a lead quickly, or you can extend it.

“I just need to do my job, hopefully do as good as I can, and see where we end up at the end of the day.”

Published on March 18, 2023

India’s Rashid Khan will have another fine opportunity to win his first Asian Tour title in nearly a decade tomorrow after he took the third-round lead today in The DGC Open presented by Mastercard, being played on the Lodhi Course at Delhi Golf Club (DGC).

Khan fired a four-under-par 68, impressively recovering from a double bogey on the first, to finish the day on 11 under for the US$750,000 event and a three-shot advantage over countryman Chikkarangappa S.

Chikkarangappa, who started the day with a three-shot lead and is in pursuit of first Asian Tour title, shot a 74.

Honey Baisoya carded a 65, the joint best low round of the week so far, to sit two back in a tie for third with fellow Indian Om Prakash Chouhan, who returned a 73, and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, in with a 71.

Khan won his first Asian Tour title here at DGC in 2014 at the SAIL-SBI Open, beating Siddikur Rahman from Bangladesh in a sudden-death play-off, and tasted victory again later that year at the Chiangmai Golf Classic but they remain his only two wins on the Asian Tour.

There have been opportunities to win since, including at DGC where he has an outstanding record, and last year he finished runner-up twice: first in the Mandari Indonesia Open and then in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, where he lost in extra-time to Chinese-Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang.

“I am looking for  gaood round tomorrow and let the game talk,” said the 32 year old, the prolific winner of 11 titles on the Professional Golf Tour of India.

“These kind of rounds give you a lot of confidence, when I shot a bogey free round on day one I was happy. Then today on the first hole I was in the middle of the fairway off the tee and I ended up making a double so you know to come back and shoot that round gives you a lot of momentum. You know you are at the corner where your game is gonna come back.”

Lightning stopped played for 45 minutes when he was on the 11^th, but it did little to distract him as when play resumed he holed a difficult 30 footer for birdie.

“I just tried to find the greens and give myself birdie opportunities, I holed really good putts today,” he added.

“Only used my driver once, which is very rare when I am playing DGC, I was just teeing off with my three iron, I am really enjoying this kind of play.”

After that opening double, he didn’t drop another shot, and birdied four of the next six holes, and another two on the back nine.

His fine DGC record, which may count for everything tomorrow, also includes a play-off loss against India’s Anirban Lahiri at the 2013 SAIL-SBI Open.

Khan said he has never seen playing partner Chikkarangappa miss so many putts.

“I wouldn’t say it was a bad day, I hit the ball well, I putted well, it’s just that I lost a little bit of speed on the green, probably the weather, just a little bit of rain slowed the greens,” said Chikkarangappa, who frustratingly made two bogeys and 16 pars.

“It’s okay, I have another 18 holes to go. I just need to go out there and repeat yesterday’s round, nothing else, if I do that, like I said my putter was cold, I just need to get that hot at the beginning of the round. If I do that I think it will be a good match tomorrow.”

Baisoya’s round was picture perfect with no dropped shots and three birdies on the front and four on the back.

Filipino’s Miguel Tabuena and Justin Quiban have an outside chance tomorrow after shooting rounds of 72 and 73 today to lie seven behind the leader, along with England’s Matt Killen, in with a 74.

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Australian Marc Leishman has taken the first round at the LIV Golf Tucson event, while Torque Golf Club are in front in the team competition.

Leishman opened with a six-under-par 65 at The Gallery South Course to grab a one-shot lead over Abraham Ancer, Matthew Wolff and Louis Oosthuizen.

Peter Uihlein, Joaquin Niemann and David Puig are tied for fifth, two shots behind.

Scott Vincent, winner of last year’s International Series Order of Merit on the Asian Tour, started well with a 68, and is tied for eighth.

“I’m enjoying my golf at the moment … Playing with no consequences over the offseason kind of gave me a little bit of confidence with some of the shots I hit and how they turned out,” said the 39-year-old Leishman, who is seeking his 14th career pro victory.

In the team competition, Torque GC leads at 10 under thanks to counting rounds by Niemann, Puig and Sebastian Munoz (69). The Spanish-speaking team is one shot ahead of three teams – Smash GC, Fireballs GC and Iron Heads GC.

Torque comes off its first-ever podium finish, a third place at LIV Golf Mayakoba. The next step for Captain Niemann and his crew is a champagne first-place celebration.

“I’m pretty excited to see what’s going to happen on the weekend,” Niemann said of Torque, the youngest of the 12 LIV Golf League teams.

The youngest player is the 21-year-old Puig, who played collegiately at Arizona State before turning pro last year to become a LIV Golf member. Puig recently played a practice round with Arizona State legend Phil Mickelson and carded 11 birdies. He produced seven on Friday, tying for the most in the field.

“It’s nice to see David playing great,” Niemann said. “… Pretty cool to see him scoring well. The practice rounds, you could tell he was feeling like home.”

As for the affable Leishman, he and his Ripper GC teammates – captained by reigning Open Champion Cameron Smith – are building the type of camaraderie they hope will manifest itself into team trophies. Next month, LIV Golf travels to Australia for the first time, with huge crowds expected for LIV Golf Adelaide.

“It’ll be nice to be able to play in front of home crowds in Adelaide, which is a really cool city,” Leishman said. “They love their sport. Certainly, excited to get down there and just showcase what we’ve got with LIV.”

The immediate focus, of course, will be on the final two rounds of LIV Golf Tucson. Saturday’s tickets have been sold out. Leishman and the players chasing after him hope to feed off their energy.

“I actually holed a nice putt in 16 in front of the Birdie Shack,” Leishman said. “It was nice to make a birdie in front of there and get a nice cheer.”

Published on March 17, 2023

Chikkarangappa S says he is “not a fan” of Delhi Golf Club (DGC) because of its nuances and level of difficulty but that certainly did not show today as he confidently swept into the lead at The DGC Open presented by Mastercard.

The Indian fired a brilliant second-round bogey-free six-under-par 66, on DGC’s enchanting Lodhi Course, to go 10 under and take a healthy three-shot lead over his compatriots Om Prakash Chouhan (68) and Rashid Khan (70), Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong (70), the defending champion, and Sadom Kaewkanjana (67), and England’s Matt Killen (69).

Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, the impressive young Thai golfer beaten by Australian Wade Ormsby in a sudden-death play-off last week at the International Series Thailand, carded a 67 and is one shot further back with countryman Poom Saksansin (66), first-round leader Siddikur Rahman from Bangladesh, who will be disappointed to card a 73 after his 65 yesterday, and Filipino Justin Quiban (71)  – in the Asian Tour’s first visit of the season to the sub-continent.

Chikkarangappa, who started on the back nine, made four birdies on his first nine, birdied his last two, and hit 18 greens in regulation said: “Honestly I am not a fan of this golf course, not a really big fan, but I am just learning how to play every year.”

A top-10 in last week’s International Series Thailand, where he shared the third-round lead with Siddikur, has clearly had a positive effect on a player who has twice finished second on the Asian Tour before.

“I have been putting really well, discussing things with my caddie, and striking the ball really well,” said the Indian, better known as “Chikka”, who has triumphed twice before on the Asian Development Tour, at the TAKE Solutions India Masters in 2014 and 2015.

“I have given a big responsibility to him [his caddie], with no driver in the bag, to hit the most number of fairways, and with that everything will fall in place.”

Nitithorn beat India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu here last year to claim his maiden Asian Tour title and despite not being at his best today he is perfectly placed heading into the weekend of the US$750,000 event.

“I birdied the first but after that my approach shots weren’t so good,” said the Thai golfer.

“I struggled a little bit, bogeyed five, and then a bogey on 10 made me at one over par. After that I came back with birdies on 14, 15 and 18. Yeah struggling, but I am pretty happy to get back to two under. I’ll take that.”

Poom’s 66, the joint lowest round of the day with Chikkarangappa, was highlighted by an incredible run of five birdies in the last seven holes of the back nine, which was his first half as he started on 10, with his only dropped shot of the day coming on 16. After birdies on one and two he parred his way home.

“I played good, the driving was good,” said Poom, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour with the most recent coming at the 2018 Indonesian Masters, an event he also won in 2016.

“There were some misses but still I played well. Most of the time my birdies were from like six feet or six feet. I hit my irons better today.

“This is my third time at DGC. The conditions are now way better at the new course. But the bushes are still the same, if you get into it it is difficult to come out. The fairway is softer so better conditions.”

Published on March 16, 2023

Siddikur Rahman’s affinity for Delhi Golf Club (DGC) was clearly evident once again today when he took the first-round lead in The DGC Open presented Mastercard at the iconic golfing venue.

Bangladesh’s ace golfer, the winner of India’s national Open here in 2013 who also has 12 other top 10 finishes at DGC on the Asian Tour, fired an imperious seven-under-par 65.

Defending champion Nitithorn Thippong from Thailand, Filipino Justin Quiban and India’s Rashid Khan finished the day in a tie for second after shooting 67s – in the sixth Asian Tour event of the season.

Last week Siddikur, aged 38, shared the third-round lead in the International Series Thailand after firing one of the finest rounds of his 18-year professional career, an eight-under-par 64. He slipped back on the final day finishing in a tie for 27^th but he showed today that he is very much a player in form.

“Last week I played really good, and I am trying to maintain that confidence this week,” he said.

“It was a wonderful day today. I am hitting really, really, good, and putting really good. Especially happy it is a bogey free round.”

He chipped in twice for birdies, on eight and 17, and made seven birdies in total, two on the front, five on the back.

He added: “I have been working on my fitness, my technique, my mental training – so that’s starting to pay off, I can hit any shot I want. It is all starting to work.”

Nicknamed ‘the Tiger of Dhaka’, he is a two-time winner on the Asian Tour (he also won the Brunei Open in 2010). Although relatively subdued over the past four years he showed glimpses of his former self by finishing tied third in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and joint fourth in the Bangladesh Open last year.

Nitithorn, who beat Indian Ajeetesh Sandhu in a sudden-death play-off here last year, made a late rally finishing eagle, birdie.

He started his round on hole 10 and made the turn in two under with birdies on 11 and 15. Another birdie on the first suggested he was settling into his stride, but he made his only bogey of the day on the following hole before his fine finish.

“I holed from about 10 yards for my eagle on my 17^th, the eighth,” said Nitithorn, who also won the International Series Singapore last year to become one of only three players to win twice in 2022.

“I made a really good stroke on that putt, if it hadn’t hit the hole, I think it would have gone a long way past. I was lucky enough it went into the hole.”

The 26 year old, who finished fourth on last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit, has yet to find his form this season but DGC is clearly bringing out the best in him.

“I felt very comfortable before the start and after five or six holes I was already two under,” said the Thai golfer.

“I struggled with my approach shots mid-way through the round, but I managed to get it on the green and hole some putts. Like last year I want to shoot 66 everyday.”

Quiban started with 11 straight pars, then made three birdies in a row, followed by pars on 15 and 16, before two closing birdies.

“Front nine was kind of slow,” said the Filipino, who finished fifth here last year for his best result to date on the Asian Tour.

“But the back nine I was hitting it way closer, my putts started to go in and I had three straight birdies from 12. I got confident with my putting stroke.

“Off the tee was really good, I just never got myself out of position, I always had a good look into the green and stayed aggressive the whole day.  I had a good round on the final day last week in Thailand, and I just feel more confident this week.”

Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, Miguel Tabuena from the Philippines, India’s Varun Chopra and Chikkarangappa S, England’s Matt Killen, and Taichi Kho from Hong Kong all carded 68s.

 

Published on March 15, 2023

If there is ever a tournament in the game to help Rikard Karlberg get his career back on track then it is The DGC Open presented by Mastercard, which starts Thursday at Delhi Golf Club (DGC).

The Swedish golfer, who has slowly been battling back from a debilitating illness that nearly ended his career six years ago, is a two-time winner here on the iconic Indian golf course, with both of those victories coming 13 years ago on the Asian Tour.

“I just want to re-live a lot of great memories,” said Karlberg.

“I’ve been playing for the last couple of years, that’s exactly what I need to, I think, find some form again.”

Karlberg’s career was in steep ascent when he won the SAIL Open in April of 2010 at DGC and then the Hero Honda Indian Open at the same venue in December.

Those two phenomenal displays of golf indicated what a special player Karlberg was, and it was not long after that he became a regular contender on the DP World Tour.

And after winning the Open d’Italia in 2015 more success was expected but two years later his health took a shocking turn for the worse.

“It was in the middle of 2017 I got an infection,” he explains.

“I didn’t really play that good in the beginning of the year. 2016 was my best year thus far, I was in the top 70 in the world, and from there you want to go into the top 50. So, I worked very hard but that infection … I should have probably rested it, but I couldn’t, you know.

“So, I was just full of antibiotics, paracetamol and ibuprofen to take away that fever and everything, but then I relapsed. It was like constant fever for 100 days, like three months, and in the end, I basically passed out and then I couldn’t get out of bed for six months. And that was just because I didn’t listen to the body. I listened more to what I wanted to achieve with this game, and that was a proper lesson for me.”

Remarkably and to the loss of European golf and his many friends and admirers on the Asian Tour it wasn’t until 2019 that he was able to play again, and only by 2021 did he feel 100%.

He admits that the relief and excitement at being back and fully fit then saw him try to do too much with his game, which also didn’t help his progress.

“I tried a little bit too much of the new stuff, and that kind of made me lose my confidence. Made me, you know, make this game a little bit too complicated. And, so for the last four months I’ve been working hard on just making it simple again,” said Karlberg.

The 36 year old has also recruited the services of the same caddie, Pramod, who helped him to victory in 2010.

“I remember like it was yesterday, we did a practice round and I missed a lot of putts and then he stepped in, showed me the lines,” said the Swede.

“And it made me so comfortable on the greens, so I putted extremely well. And second, of course, is that you need to be straight here. And I think, you know, I kind of like the framing of this being tight between the trees.

“It just frames everything and makes it easier for me to see the shot, so instead of maybe getting scared it kind of makes it easier for me. Through the course of my career maybe one of my weakest links has been the driver, and here it’s not about that. You don’t really need to hit that club if you don’t want to. So, if you put all those things together, that’s what has been the magic ingredient for me.”

Hopefully the DGC specialist can find some more magic this week so he can finish a career that started with so much promise.

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By Joy Chakravarty, Contributing Editor, Asian Tour

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, such a dominant player on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in 2022, comes to this week’s The DGC Open presented by Mastercard at Delhi Golf Club (DGC) under very different circumstances compared to last year. And he has a feeling it could lead to an even better result than his tied sixth finish in the inaugural edition last season.

Last year, the 26-year-old Chandigarh star was coming off an incredible victory on the PGTI Tour, having won the previous week at Tollygunge Club in Kolkata – making up a three-shot deficit against leader Viraj Madappa over the last three holes.

Sandhu then started The DGC Open presented by Mastercard with a disappointing three-over-par 75, but a closing 67 ensured he finished inside the top 10.

“I’m excited and I’m nervous at the same time, because I know that the game is in the right place,” said Sandhu, who finished tied 25^th in the Hero Indian Open last month but has yet to reproduce the kind of form that saw him win five PGTI titles in 2022 and finish second on the Order of Merit, something that earned him a country exemption to play on the Asian Tour.

“It is the Delhi Golf Club. You have got to put yourself in that position to even be in contention. It’s a golf course where you need to be at 100 percent with every single shot.

“I have always found DGC a course where you have to let go of your ego. You can’t overpower this course. You have to respect it, no matter what. I always come here with that mindset that if I respect the golf course, somehow the course will respect me back.”

Even though Sandhu was in better form last year, he said he made a cardinal mistake at the DGC. He was overconfident.

“Last year, I had just won Tolly before coming to the DGC. It was a most unexpected and thrilling win, and one of my best ever,” said Sandhu, who is now ranked 407^th in the OWGR.

“When I reached DGC, everybody was like congratulating me and saying ‘well played’. I went into the tournament playing good golf and I had this feeling that I was going to have another good week. But that’s something you can’t do at DGC. It obviously showed me my place after the first three days.

“On the last day, I lowered my expectations, started respecting the golf course, and suddenly it started giving me back. I birdied the 12^th, eagled the 14^th, birdied 15^th, made a bogey on 17^th and then made a birdie the next hole again. It was a very casual round in terms of the mindset.

“I know I have not had big finishes this season, so I’ve already lowered my expectations, which is a good thing. This is the best mindset to enter DGC with.”

Sandhu, who was involved in a record six-hole play-off at DGC against his current room mate Arjun Prasad during the 2017 Northern India Amateur, said he felt confident he would be able to lift his game despite his recent run of form.

“I feel my game is not that consistent, but I feel sharp enough to win, or score better, this year. I know that if my body and my mind are both aligned in that same week, I will have a pretty good chance at winning like I did at some of the events last year where I won by eight and nine shots,” said Sandhu.

“I’m not looking for consistency in the sense that I want to push as hard as I can. And I have accepted the fact that when I push hard, there are going to be times when things are working in my favour and times when they are not. But there is a lot of comfort in knowing that these things that I am trying right now will pay off later in my golfing career.

“It’s something that I want to know about myself… how hard can I push? What’s the limit? I’m just trying to tell myself again and again and trying to make myself believe that I’m getting there. It will take time, but I am on the right path. I’m sure this year, I should have an international win under my belt.”

Not surprisingly the play-off loss in 2017 to Prasad is a constant topic of conversation, but Sandhu plans to recall only one memory when he tees off tomorrow in the US$750,000 tournament.

“Arjun is my roommate now and whenever we talk and room together, we invariably end up talking about that day. Probably, it’s time the golf course paid me back,” said Sandhu.

“But I don’t think of that loss. The only thing I remember from last year is shooting five-under on the last day. That’s something that I’m going to stick to. That’s the only memory I’m going to go with.”

Published on March 14, 2023

Nitithorn Thippong, who defends The DGC Open presented by Mastercard tournament this week at Delhi Golf Club, has many great memories about his victory last year but one thing stands out.

“Oh, I can remember the last hole,” says the Thai not surprisingly as he beat India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off to lift his maiden Asian Tour trophy.

“I can remember almost every shot, but the highlight is the second shot on the play-off on the first hole, I hit a three wood onto the green. That’s the best one in my life.”

Living up to his nickname ‘Fever’, he raised the temperature of his game on the DGC’s par-five 18th. Tied with playing-partner Sandhu on the final hole of regulation, he holed a 10-footer for birdie and a closing 73, forcing his opponent to make his four from five feet to match the Thai’s seven-under 281 total and send the tournament into overtime.

In the play-off, the Thai reached the green in two with that memorable three wood, leaving himself a 15-foot eagle putt while Sandhu found the putting surface in three having landed in trouble off the tee. After Sandhu missed his birdie attempt from 18 feet, Nitithorn two-putted to earn a cheque for US$90,000.

He adds: “I think last year the key is just hit the ball in the fairway, because the course is quite narrow. So, for me, it’s like a two iron into the fairway, and then you got like wedge or short iron to the green. So just hit it in the fairway. That’s the key.”

He went on to claim the International Series Singapore in August and become one of only three players to win twice during the season. He finished the year fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

While yet to rediscover that form this year after five season-opening events, he will be looking for some inspiration this week to get him back on track at such an important venue for him.

“I’m very excited to be back at Delhi Golf Club to defend my title. Yeah, I feel very excited,” said Nitithorn.

“I mean, compared to last year, right now, I am not really playing as well but I’m playing okay, not bad. So, hopefully, this week, although I’m not as confident as last year, I’ll try my best.”

One of the strongest fields ever assembled for an Asian Tour event in India is competing this week, led by Nitithorn, ensuring that once again the action will come think and fast for the many fans who are in attendance and the millions watching the live broadcast at home.