Far from the madding crowd, golfers mingle

Have you ever played a par-3 dog-leg?" Not the sort of question most golfers are used to hearing, but one that has often been asked of the pros turning out at the Omega European Masters at the Crans Sur Sierre Golf Club here.

For the uniniated, a dog-leg hole (as the name implies) is one with a bend — which keeps the green hidden from the point where you tee off, and is usually played over a long distance. The 16th hole here however, stretching just 235 yards, is a dog-leg, and has had many of the participants scratching their heads.

"Well, no, not before this tournament, but I’ve done it twice now," was the chirpy Digvijay Singh’s response. The Indian pro, like his counterparts Gaurav Ghei and Shiv Kapur, failed to make the cut after the first two days of the European Masters. "It’s an interesting course and very different from what we are used to playing," he added.

For the vastly experienced Ghei too, the Swiss sojourn has been something of a learning experience. "In Asia we rarely get to play in such windy conditions. Because of the mountains, the wind swirls and you have to constantly adjust. Also when it rains at home, you just have to pack up and come back when it has stopped. Here, we had to just carry on which along with the cold, made it really hard. But I’ll be back next year, for sure."

With the pressure off, both golfers, Digvijay accompanied by his charming wife, had their share of stories to tell, and had us in splits.

Every sport breeds its share of lore and golf has a more hoary history of tall tales and rib-tickling anecdotes than most. And it’s important too, to keep a dead-pan face while churning out such yarns, and Ghei is something of a master.

"We were once playing a tournament in Malaysia and a Pakistani golfer was in my group. It was a tricky course and most of us played safe, using 3-woods or irons off the tee, but he insisted on using his driver. And just kept the ball dead straight all day till we came to the last hole, which was a long one.

"Here, we opted to use the driver, but he suddenly put his away and pulled out a 3-wood. Hit a bad tee shot and ended up double-bogeying the hole. I asked him later why he had changed his approach so suddenly especially when he had been hitting the ball so well, and I’ll never forget the reply. "Yaar, sara din driver ko chalaya tha, thak giya hoga isliye I used the other club."

Takes all kinds, doesn’t it? — rahul Banerji