New Delhi: The twitter of the birds and the chatter of the Ryder Cup continued amidst the dissonant sounds of city life at the Delhi Golf Club. A canine intrusion delayed the proceedings on the closing 18th as Shane Lowry had a small birdie putt to make in the fading afternoon to grab the sole lead. After his Bethpage Black heroics at the end of September, the 38-year-old probably felt no pressure here as his European teammate Tommy Fleetwood and captain Luke Donald watched in anticipation. “When I saw the draw, I was really happy. We all fed off each other. You know, 64 is a really nice score. I just rolled off a few more birdies than they did on the back nine,” said the burly Irishman, scratching his beard, after his 8-under put him one stroke ahead of former Hero Indian Open winner Keita Nakajima. Six birdies in the closing journey made for some class action. Tommy and Luke followed suit, adding a sprinkling of stardust with 4-under rounds, but it was bogey-free Lowry who emerged as the cream of the crop. “It’s kind of refreshing to be playing a golf course like this. I think we play so many now where you stand up and just see a driver in every hole. It’s old school and when you start missing fairways it becomes quite tricky. It’s enjoyable to play especially with friends. “Ultimately we are all professionals and we all want to beat each other too,” the 2019 Open champion threw down the gauntlet. When Lowry and Co walked off, another Ryder Cup buddy, the main attraction of the $4m DP World India Championship, was probably enjoying a spa session at the Oberoi. Up at 4.30 am for his morning tee, only relaxation was on the cards for Rory McIlroy before a hard day’s official dinner night. The fans were also up at the crack of dawn as they lined up at the tenth-tee area to cheer for the hero from Hollywood, Northern Ireland. The driver was sleeping in the locker as Rory wielded his long irons to bring in a card of 3-under 69, comfortable in his powder-blue Nike polo. “I’ve got a 5-wood just in case I need to hit it for an approach shot on a par-5. But I just don’t see any hole out there that I need to hit it more than say 260, 270 off the tee.” Yet, he felt a bit of discomfort. “I thought some of the hole locations early on were really tricky. You play a practice round or a pro-am, the pins are all in the middle of the green, and then you get to tournament day and they start to tuck them away a little bit, and of course definitely played a little tougher than I expected,” the career Grand Slam winner conceded after a couple of bogeys on the early stretch. A lot of fliers off the rough also surprised him a little. “Maybe being a little bit less aggressive with approach shots and getting it on the right side of the pin,” he made a mental note for Friday. Ben Griffin, Team USA rookie, has negotiated many hazards in his life. The Georgian had opted for a job as a mortgage loan officer after he raked up debts of $17,000 during the pandemic. “It was a great time for me to honestly get my mind completely off of golf,” he had said in the pre-tournament press conference. “And it’s crazy that it’s worked out the way it has.” This season saw him clinching two PGA Tour titles after working his way through the lower-tier Korn Ferry Tour. It is the World No. 13’s late grandad’s words that may have inspired him. “Hit ’em long and straight.” Long here will probably punish you, but straight is the key word that sticks at DGC. “I like courses like this a lot more because you just hit a variety of different clubs more often, whereas in America we’re so used to hitting maybe drivers and wedges a lot more,” the man nicknamed ‘Benny Booms’ said after his 4-under landed him in tied-7th place. Griffin’s caddie, Viktor Hovland’s caddie, and the Norwegian himself were ready for another kind of hazard, the gallis of Chandni Chowk, and probably a tuk-tuk ride to the Red Fort. Hovland settled for a 71 in T-44th place on a day when 81 players were par or under. Rahil’s eagle and Dhruv’s dream “In the last eight months, I was not having fun,” Rahil Gangjee, a man always ready with a hello and wide smile, said. But the 47-year-old changed his mindset since last week’s tournament at home in Bengaluru. “We take this game too seriously. We don’t laugh, smile or appreciate our great shots. My caddie Som and I have just been trying to do that, not being difficult on myself when I hit bad shots.” It was an eagle on the par-5 closing hole from 60 feet that grabbed eyeballs, and it was all down to positive thoughts. “I was thinking about the similar putt I made for eagle a couple of years ago here at DGC when I met my wife Ruhi. It was on the same line but a little closer to the hole. She’s here. And of course you got back to the shot, and it went in, so it’s amazing.” That took him to 5-under 67 in a share of 4th. It was a sleepless night before a dream day for DLF’s Dhruv Sheoran. “It’s really surreal because I have dreamt a lot of times, watching Rory and Tommy on TV and thinking one day that I want to be playing next to them.” He got a prize in Thursday’s reality show with a round of 68, tied with Fleetwood and a shot above McIlroy.
