Arjun Atwal leads India's drive for acceptance

By Lewine Mair in Delhi

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The Delhi Golf Club has much the same special atmosphere as the Royal and Ancient. Inside, though, India's equivalent of R & A regulars sit glued to the cricket. Much though they love their golf, with the 6,000 members making up four-balls which tee off at six-minute intervals every day, they add to the impression that cricket will always be out on its own in this land.

	Forefront: Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal are playing in Delhi

Yet Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh are just two of the top Indians in action in this week's Emaar MGF Indian Masters who believe that this tournament, along with the Johnnie Walker Classic in Gurgaon from Feb 28, can make a difference.

When Indian golfers travel to America, they are still asked where they learned their golf and whether there are any courses in their homeland. Atwal has learned how to silence them - he simply tells of Royal Calcutta, which was founded in 1829 and is older by far than anything they have on that side of the Atlantic.

Stephen Gallacher, whose practice drive down the 18th yesterday was shrugged from the fairway into the prickly bushes, suspects no one will be wielding his driver with much abandon when the tournament starts.

"Come Thursday," Atwal warned, "the bushes will give the impression of moving in even closer." To which Singh added: "One bad drive and you can be three or four over at that hole.

"It would have helped if the rough was doing something to check errant balls, but there is just dead Bermuda grass rather than the bustling shoots which would usually take charge at this time of year. The European Tour had hoped to do some over-seeding but they discovered, too late, that the seeds would need to be in quarantine for 40 days.

Patience, no less than straight hitting, is going to be key here in that there are all manner of distractions. Motorists keep their hands on horns, stray dogs roll in bunkers and peacocks strut across the greens.

It is as well that Colin Montgomerie has given this week a miss.

www.telegraph.co.uk/mair

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Related articles 5 February 2008: Arjan Atwal aims to put India on the golf map

External links PGA European Tour

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