Bangkok: Gaganjeet Bhullar is simply 36 years previous and has a few years of top-level golf left in him, but when there’s somebody on the Asian Tour who turns right into a lion in winter, fairly actually, it’s him.
Gaganjeet Bhullar of India in the course of the Worldwide Sequence Thailand on the Thai Nation Membership, Bangkok on Thursday. (Asian Tour)
The Chandigarh professional is probably the most profitable Indian in Asian Tour’s historical past with 11 titles. However much more spectacular is how he handles the enterprise finish of the season.
As many as 10 of his 11 wins have come within the second half (publish July) – with three in August, two in October, and two in November. His solely win within the early a part of the season was the Asian Tour Worldwide in Thailand, manner again in February 2012.
Bhullar is as soon as once more sticking to the time-tested script.
Final week, on the Black Mountain Championship, he led after 54 holes, however slipped on Sunday to complete tied seventh. And on the opening day of this week’s $2 million Worldwide Sequence Bangkok, he began with an outstanding bogey-free five-under-par 65 to be only one shot behind the leaders at 64.
Black Mountain was a slight blip in an in any other case impeccable document. It was solely the second time in his profession he didn’t win the title regardless of main after three rounds.
Undaunted by that miss, Bhullar has continued to make use of the tailwind of his latest type.
On Thursday at Thai Nation Membership, after a superb spherical during which he hit 13 out of 14 fairways and 4 15 greens in regulation, Bhullar mentioned: “Because beggars can’t be choosers, I will take any win coming in any part of the year.
“It’s something that has perplexed me as well. Because honestly, I work as hard on my game in the first half of a year as I do in the second half. I don’t know…maybe I just find my mojo later in the year.
“I think it has to do with scheduling. Over the years, we have had fewer tournaments in the first half and then in the second half, we tend to go to countries and courses that I love.
“I did not play too many tournaments earlier in the year, and it becomes tough for me to get into that zone. I am kind of a momentum player, and I keep building from one tournament to another.
“Also, I guess when you haven’t started that well, you’ve got to have a bit more fire to end well. Your goals change and achieving them becomes even more crucial. Your motivation changes. You try to boost yourself more after every small milestone. You end up doing all sorts of things that you need to do to play well.”
Bhullar missed three cuts in 4 begins earlier than final week’s Black Mountain and languished at 122nd within the Order of Advantage. What modified his fortunes is that the most important weapon in his bag – the motive force – began to behave.
The Driving Accuracy chief on the Asian Tour in 2023 (81.09%) and 2017 (79.17%) has very not often completed outdoors the High 10 in that stat.
After lacking two cuts in Taiwan, the place he discovered it troublesome to regulate the ball off the tee, Bhullar missed solely two fairways final week.
“It’s the driver. In the weeks where I drive the ball well, I end up shooting under-par scores. I did not drive the ball well in both the Taiwanese events and that was a disappointment. That’s when I looked at my stats and saw I was hitting just 6-7 fairways out of 14,” mentioned Bhullar.
“That’s not what I expect from myself. I worked harder at the range and last week was very solid even though the fairways were very wide. I seem to have taken that form to this golf course.
“I place a lot of emphasis on hitting the fairways. That is what gives you momentum on every hole. You hit a good tee shot in the fairway, and you can start thinking of making a birdie from there. But if you don’t, you’d be thinking about saving par. It’s a huge shift in mindset as well.”
Bhullar mentioned he wasn’t very dissatisfied that he couldn’t convert his third-round lead right into a win in Hua Hin final week.
“I was disappointed, but I did not take it to heart. I was OK after half an hour or so, because I knew that I had played a good round. I was right there mentally through the round. A loss lingers when you have done badly and made unnecessary errors,” mentioned the Arjuna Award winner.
“I have played enough golf to know now that you also need a bit of luck to win tournaments. What was important was that I came here and carried on the good work from Black Mountain. So, that mission has been accomplished.”
Bhullar’s Chandigarh compatriot Karandeep Kochhar additionally began the match effectively, taking pictures a 4-under par 66. Among the many Indians who completed within the morning, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (68), Shiv Kapur (69) and Rayhan Thomas (69) broke par.