Well, there’s only one tournament that matters in golf this week. A tight, tree-lined par 72, around 7,200 yards, just inland from the ocean, in humid conditions – yes, it’s time for the Kolkata Challenge.
Look, fine, I know everyone is thinking about THE PLAYERS Championship. Obviously that’s the big event. But if you want an amuse bouche each day, there’s LIV (from Friday,) and there’s the Hotel Planner Tour. The latter returns after a brief break following the South Africa Swing and this is the first of two co-sanctioned events with the PGA Tour of India. We’re over to Delhi for the second event, and that’s much closer to the heart of Indian golf, such as it is, but we start at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, in the renamed (in English) city of Kolkata. There are 60 PGTI players joining a slightly larger group of HPT regulars than gained starts in South Africa. However, there are plenty of players with HPT cards who won’t be gaining starts until we reach the UAE in April. There’s a definite inequity with five-of-the-29 events being co-sanctioned and thus restricted, but it is hard to avoid that and get competitive golf in “appropriate” weather – though we’ll be talking about the weather in some depth.
As a reminder, the standings are headed by dual HPT winner Daniel van Tonder, who finished fifth in the DPWT's Joburg Open last week and doesn’t make the trip. With Wilco Nienaber also missing, Jamie Rutherford, third in the Road to Majorca standings and winner of the Cape Town Open, will be starting the event as the highest ranking player. Last year this event threw up a classy leaderboard and despite the focus on Sawgrass, do make some time to keep half an eye on this; it’ll repay you in future years. Let’s get into it.
The Tournament
As discussed, Royal Calcutta Golf Club is our host, and it is not totally unlike Sawgrass, though the comparison is a bit glib. Though the club goes back to the 1920's and was set up by expat Brits, the current location has been used since around 1910, and the course was essentially rebuilt from scratch in the 1970s by Peter Thomson. It isn’t easy. Though it is surrounded by a chaotic modern city, this is a very old-fashioned, classical test – rather like Hong Kong in that respect, though it is much longer. It is tree-lined, tight and with water everywhere – a number of small channels and creeks as well as small ponds. It is almost completely flat and there are few bunkers.
Last year gave us a good look at this course and it played out roughly as a good challenge should; local knowledge and current form had a part to play, but some of the best all-round golfers in the field rose to the top, beginning with Rasmus Neergard-Petersen, who converted a four-shot lead at the start of the final round to a three-shot win for his first professional victory. He, of course, would win twice more for a “battlefield promotion” to the DPWT and came close to winning his PGA card at Puerto Rico last week.
Fundamentally this is a test of tee-to-green golf. Stats aren’t always as strong as we’d like at this level but total driving and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green would be the sort of numbers that I’d be looking at. I’m like a broken record with this at the HPT level, but bogey avoidance is always key. With so much water on this track, it is particularly important here – good players need to know where to miss.
If you’re watching the leaderboard as the event goes along, the front nine is the tougher of the two, with the five toughest par fours (7th, 3rd, 6th, 9th and 5th) all coming before the turn, with only the par 3 13th challenging them for difficulty. Last year, just five holes played an average below par, with the two par 5s – 4th and 15th – the easiest of the bunch. This course features just two par 3s and 5s and 14 tough par 4s. Neergard-Petersen won with -14 with -9 putting players in the top ten and a cut coming at -2. With hotter conditions, hard to imagine that we’ll see lower scoring this year.
So, yes - conditions. We often say “oh, it’ll be hot.” I don’t think that quite covers it here. It is going to be, speaking as a pasty Englishman, ridiculous. More so than you’d expect even for tropics, with highs of 40 each day, and potentially higher still on Sunday. That’s around 105 for my American friends. High humidity, tough pollution and light winds only add to the challenge, though the wind is likely to be rising in the evenings. This is all clearly a factor, though it is one I struggle to understand. We saw plenty of Scandinavians to the fore last year, and you wouldn’t expect them to enjoy these conditions. It is probably individual. I have certainly worked hard to find some local stars who might feature, and am also keen to see individuals who’ve played well in warm conditions. One to watch. I don’t know if FRL will be available, but if it is, with hotter, windier conditions in the afternoon, this might be an event to focus on early starters.
The Field
As I’ve said, there are 60 players from the PGTI. That’s a tour that I really enjoy, and I hope to see some advantages to following it for the next couple of weeks and for the Hero Indian Open on the DPWT. Last year, eight of the top 25 came from the PGTI group including Rahil Gangjee and Veer Ahlawat who both picked up place returns. That said, sixty players is too many, and my expectation is that many of them will be outclassed. Ahlawat, now a DPWT player, isn’t here, and Indian golf lacks the depth to provide many serious competitors here. Also, Kolkata is a long way from Delhi, and the bulk of Indian professionals play and train in the Delhi area. Weather and conditions are very different and this course also presents different challenges, so “local” knowledge shouldn’t be taken to mean “has an Indian flag on the entry list.” Of the players I haven’t picked, I think Honey Baisoya might be the most talented, but he’s run into poor form the last couple of starts and went poorly here last week. He might be one for Delhi.
I am awfully tempted to wander through the whole field, but time doesn’t permit. There are an awful lot of HPT players who can compete here – whilst I’m confident that my list of key attributes is about right, it is hardly selective. There aren’t many of the better players on this list who aren’t long enough to go well and there aren’t many who have decent course experience. So, if you have a guy or guys you fancy, I will struggle to give you a reason not to back them. I certainly had a few I didn’t want to leave off my list, with Liam Nolan, Oihan Guillamoundeguy, Sam Jones and Santiago Tarrio among those who caused me particular heartache. Liam Nolan was the last man off the list and he was narrowly left out because there are two European youngsters with similar profiles who I marginally prefer. However, I’ve got a list of four, and I can’t keep any of them off my selections list.
Selections
Turning first to the “home” challenge, my first pick is a PGTI regular from across the border in Bangladesh, Jamal Hossain. Watch your betting slips as there are a few Hossains (as there are Baisoyas.) Hossain is from Dhaka, far closer to Kolkata than the majority of Indian players’ bases, and is well-used to the hot, flat, swampy conditions that the players will face this week. He proved that last year, finishing 44th when in very poor form, and he proved it when winning the Bengal Open in 2019, his biggest win and on a similar Kolkata course. He comes here in great form, ranked fifth on the PGTI this season, after winning at Digboi (Assam, even further east than Kolkata) in November last year. He’s a veteran who won’t be phased by any aspect of this event and isn’t priced appropriately.
The same can be said for Rahil Gangjee, who as mentioned took a place last year. In fact, he finished solo second and given Neergard-Petersen’s subsequent success, that reads very well indeed. Gangjee is Calcutta born and raised and this is his home golf course. He’s another in stellar form, finishing second on the PGTI order of merit last year (aged 45) and winning twice on the Asian Development Tour for good measure. He’s carried that form into this season and with conditions unbearable for many, he can improve on last year’s second place.
If we’re going to see a win from a European, I have a couple of young superstars in waiting who I’m keen to support, either of whom could conceivably follow the “RNP route.” First is Albert Boneta, who I encouraged followers to back on the DPWT in Kenya, where he finished 48th. As a player with a “weak” DPWT card he drops down in class here and I think his length and quality can shine through. He went awfully well at Q school on a pair of tracks where avoiding water is critical, and he went to college in New Mexico (as well as playing amateur golf in Spain) so although humidity wasn’t a thing, he can play in heat. I’ve written about him plenty of times and there’s really nothing more to say than that he is better than his price suggests.
The same can be said of my second European selection, someone I’m only backing for the second time (he narrowly failed to pick up place money in The Open qualifier at West Lancs as an amateur last summer, if you’re a real sicko) but that’s hardly an insult – he has only been a pro for a few months and this is his first start of the year. Yes, Walker Cup player and “next Welsh star” James Ashfield is my final pick. The 22nd ranked amateur in the world, he won the Copa Sotagrande in April last year, and if you don’t believe that’s a big deal, look at the winners and runners up. For my money it is up there with The Amateur Championship (Ashfield was ninth) as the biggest amateur event in Europe each season. This is the start of his campaign to win a DPWT card and I think he’s got the skill to do it at the first attempt. Now, is starting your year late and in a funny event like this the easiest way to start? Nope – but that’s baked into the price. He won’t be available at numbers like this for long, so take them while you can and hope he process his worth early.
Jamal Hossain, 125/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Skybet.
Rahil Gangjee, 70/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.
Albert Boneta, 50/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Skybet.
James Ashfield, 55/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.
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