Bhullar now looks to next at Avantha Masters (Interview)

BANGKOK - Surfing on the internet Saturday night and checking out the Asian Tour website, Gaganjeet Bhullar was startled to find that he had the highest number of votes in the poll asking, “Who do you think will win the Asian Tour International?”

And this morning, Bhullar, 21, and only the sixth Indian to win more than once on Asian Tour, since it was formed in 1995, set about the task in earnest.

“Last night while checking the asiantour.com I found that I have the highest votes on a poll ‘who do you think will win the Asian Tour International’. I told myself that it was a bit of a disappointment that I wouldn’t win as I had so many votes. But it shows that anything can happen in golf,” said an excited Bhullar, who won his maiden Asian Tour title last September.

Talking of next week, Bhullar said: “I am sure my confidence will be high. I am looking forward to next week. It’s a big event (Avantha Masters). I love the DLF GCC (Delhi) as I’ve won there twice. Playing in front of the home crowd will give me a great sense of achievement.”

“I have no words to describe. When I woke up this morning, I just wanted to shoot a good number. I never ever thought I am going to shoot a 64 and win by one. It’s like a dream coming true, winning at the start of the year,” he said.

On his day at the course, he confessed: “I was struggling a lot on the greens but today was a different day. I holed a lot of putts for a change. It was good coming down the stretch. The putt on 18 was the crucial one as I had missed the putt the two days from the same line. I had a bit of an idea that it would come from the right. I just got lucky.”

“Starting the day, I thought Kiradech (Aphibarnrat) was going to win as he’s a great great player. He’s a good ball striker. The way he ended his round yesterday, I thought he would. I guess I’m lucky the golfing gods were with me.”

Bhullar’s game plan was simple and he made it sound even simpler. “I told myself to hang in there and keep hitting fairways and greens and if I’m lucky, the putts will drop. On the front nine, I had an eagle and four birdies and I just held my nerves coming in,” he added.

Describing his round, he said: “On two, I hit a monster drive, had 145 left and had an eight iron and got a lucky bounce, pitched short of the fringe and rolled to three feet. It was a curling putt. The putt on 18 was 15 to 17 feet, a testing one.”

“After 15 where I made a good putt, I told myself to make par on 16 and 17 and make birdie on 18. Everything happened the way I thought. On the 18, thought the putt was to win the tournament. I didn’t know Hwang would find the water on 17, which was sad. I thought it would go into the play-off. I’m happy to be the winner.”