Kapur has alternative plan in place
Southport (UK): Wary of the unpredictable weather, Indian golfer Shiv Kapur said he would have two strategies to combat the Royal Birkdale course when he tees off at The Open on Thursday.
Kapur, who qualified for The Open by winning the qualifying series in Woburn, has learned from past experience and hopes to put it to good use when he makes his third appearance at The Open.
“I’ve played this golf course in two completely different winds so you need to have two strategies rather than one. You learn how to combat weather when you play on links courses and most of the time the yardage books go out of play. It is a lot of feel, ball flight control and creativity. You need to
use a lot
of imagination,” said Kapur.
“This is my third Open and I’m comparing the course to my previous experience. It is a tough test but very fair at the same time. The trouble confronts you and there aren’t many blind shots.
“You got to hit it straight off the tee. There’s a lot of premium to hit the fairways and once you do that you get a chance to eliminate mistakes. Around the greens are easier as compared to other Open courses but tee shots are demanding,” he added.
The Indian has enjoyed a stellar season in 2017 after winning his second Asian Tour title in April and qualifying for The Open.
“Since then, I’ve kicked on and luckily for me it wasn’t just one good week. I played well at the Thailand Open and in Europe. It is hard to set any scoring goals this week but I want to walk away from four rounds feeling like I played well and didn’t give away any shots,” he said.