Dubai: Gulf News Pro-Am team finished runners-up in the afternoon shotgun of the curtain-raiser event for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic Wednesday.
Pro Aaron Rai joined the amateur trio in Gulf News team.
Earlier, as the starting buzzer raced the winds across the Emirates Golf Club on a chilly Wednesday morning, the Gulf News ProAm team readied to tee-off.
The time was 7.30, the hole was 14. Students-by-weekday-golfers-by-weekend Aayush Bakshi and Saransh Raina and Advertising strategist Inaan Budhiraja, whose handicap hovers between scratch and two, began the round.
They are playing in world-class company with Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia, whose wins include 31 international tournaments, including the 2017 Masters, and Li Haotong, last year’s defending champion.
Ahead of the game, Gulf News spoke to the young men stepping into the big league about what got them on the green, what life lessons they learn on the range and why they are so excited about the PGA European Tour’s Dubai leg, the Dubai Desert Classic, which runs from Thursday-Saturday.
It’s familial bonds that led all three men to the practice range, they explained over the phone.
For 24-year-old Budhiraja, it began in New Delhi. “Delhi Golf Club [about seven-and-a-half-years ago], because my late grandfather used to play and he was a very avid golfer; he loved the game; and so is my uncle,” he explains.
So while his university engagements – in Florida — kept him off the course for a few years, he returned in about two years ago upon his coming back to the UAE.
Since then, he’s been an irregular on the scene.
“Because of work, it’s a little bit harder to dedicate the same amount of time, but I still love the game as much as I did back in the day, but I usually end up practicing when there’s a need. So you know, I’m playing tomorrow [Wednesday] I make sure I get enough practice – at least a day or two before,” he said.
He did offer some perspective about the costs involved with Golfing when asked if the so-termed ‘Rich Man’s Game’ is acces-sible for the common person.
He said, “In the states you could be playing on the best of the best courses for, you know, $100; here that’s impossible.There you’ll get a good round in for about $30-40 on good public courses; here that’ll get you, maybe, a bucket of balls. So it’s expensive [comparitively] here, …but in terms of accessibility [of courses], it is extremely accessible.”
For Bakshi, the game has been an extension of growing up. “As soon as I was able to walk, he [his grandfather] kind of got me to the course. Age six I would just watch him play. And age seven I started practicing and playing,” he explained.
Both students return to the greens every week, for between two and five rounds. The effort shows; Bakshi’s handicap is at 7; Raina’s 6. [To enter the ProAm, the maximum playing handicap for men is 18.]
Mental game
Raina says his time on the course helps him in other situations too. “Golf is a very mental game; you have to keep calm and one wrong thought could mess up your whole game. And that [strategy] has been very helpful throughout life. You have to be cool minded to play well and then you have that same outlook socially,” he said.
On Wednesday, the players are obviously elated at the chance to play, with Bakshi enthusing about the opportunity to almost-shadow the pro-incharge, S.S.P Chawrasia, who has four European Tour Wins under his belt.
His demeanor has been impressive. Budhiraja, when asked about one highlight post play, points to the whole experience. “The experience itself was good, the company was good and it was definitely something I would come back to.”
“The highlight was even someone with as much experience as a professional can relate to people playing the game at a dif-ferent level.
“They didn’t mind taking the time out and giving a few tips here and there, and so overall it was a great game.”
“I ended up with a 76. On average it was seven bogies and three birdies,” he says. Raina reports a 13 under.
