Shiv

Kapur

Gamers looking for a form horse should head to the Indian golfer, who has finished runner-up in his last two starts. The first came at the Asian Tour’s Thailand Open where he fired a second-round 63 and a closing 65 while the other was at the Panasonic Open India, a PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) event. While that wasn’t exactly in elite company, a pair of second places will do plenty for the confidence and this week’s field isn’t the strongest either. As for course form, Kapur has some of that too. Although he missed the cut at Heritage in 2015, he returned in 2017 and enjoyed four consistent laps to take T16.

Three golfers at each of four sites will gain entry into the major today. Kapur went bogey-free in the nightcap to secure his second start in The Open (MC, 2006). John Wade matched Kapur’s aggregate with respective rounds of 70 and 63, also going bogey-free in his second lap of Dunbar. Wade missed the cut at St. Andrews in 2005 in his only previous appearance in the major. Amateur Grant Forrest was the medalist at 8-under 67-65=132. He offset three bogeys with 11 birdies. Forrest is currently 77th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Notables that failed to qualify include: 134--Robert Dinwiddie ... 135--Kevin Phelan ... 141--Elliot Saltman ... 142--Jin Jeong.

The Indian earned his tee time at Muirfield via Local Final Qualifying on July 2, but he’s no stranger to the global scene. What was surprising was how he started today’s round. After going birdie-birdie-birdie at holes 1-3, he settled for a par at the par-3 fourth. Kapur then rattled off three more birdies at 5-7 to sit atop the leaderboard for a while. Alas, he’d play his final 12 holes in birdie-free 3-over with one bogey and a double to finish two strokes off the overnight lead.

The Indian has played the course three times, most impressively in 2013 when he finished T10, a week in which he topped the Driving Accuracy stats and was ranked 7th for Greens in Regulation. His previous two visits had reaped T65 in 2010 and a missed cut in 2012. This is his 11th season on the European Tour and he’s never quite cemented his place. His best finish was 87th on the 2014 Race to Dubai, his worst 156th in 2013. But every other year he has ranked between 97 and 126 - consistency of the sort a player doesn’t really want. And guess what? He’s currently 125th. Highlights of the season so far are T11 in Abu Dhabi and T10 in Delhi. He was T45 last week in the Nordea Masters.

The Indian opened 2017 with T51 in the Singapore Open and stayed on the Asian Tour to post T34 in the Myanmar Open one week later. He then flew to Malaysia for the co-sanctioned Maybank Championship and shot 70-67-72-70 to take T12. Kapur topped the Driving Accuracy stats in Malaysia last week and was also 6th for Putting Average. Next up is a return to Lake Karrinyup where he opened with a 66 in last year’s Perth International to sit second after 18 holes before ending T29th. In this week’s new format, the top 24 at the end of 54 holes of stroke play qualify for the final day (match play) so it’s worth noting that Kapur was 20th after three rounds at this course 12 months ago.

The Indian had a disastrous opening 36 holes in this tournament 12 months ago, carding 81-71 to comfortably miss the cut; he’s improved on that total by a full 15 shots. His record in Malaysia is solid: he’s 11-for-15 and yet despite nine finishes of T31 or better he’s never made the top ten. This week offers the chance to change that after a round full of backward steps and birdie rushes. He opened his account with a bogey at No. 1 and seemed back on track with a brace of birdies at 3 and 4 only to give a shot to the card at the 5th. More back-to-back birdie action came at 8 and 9 to close the front nine in style. A birdie-bogey exchange at 13 and 14 was followed by the best stretch of the circuit: a hat-trick of par breakers at 16, 17 and 18 to make lunch taste very sweet.

The 33-year-old Indian spends most of his time on the Europea Tour, currently ranking 117th in the Race to Dubai. He’s missed four straights cuts internationally and hasn’t finished inside the top 10 since the Venetian Macau Open last October. Kapur collected a T23 at last year’s U.S. Open, but it would be surprising if he matches that performance this week.

Kapur advanced out of the Walton Heath international sectional in Surrey, England. While his recent form leaves much to be desired, he had a nice run late in 2013 that included a victory in the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final and also tied for second at the Foshan Open. He enters the week 177th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Kapur looked to be the favorite to post the first sub-70 score in the third lap around Pinehurst No. 2, making the turn with four birdies to just two bogeys in the bank. The law of averages eventually won out, as bogeys on 12, 14, 15, and 16 were only marginally erased by a birdie at the par-4 18th. Still, it’s a nice round. He split 13 of 14 fairways but only managed 10 GIR.

The Indian is 5-for-8 in this event although his best results -- T11 in 2010 and T25 in 2011 -- came at Hilversumsche. At this week’s course, Kennemer, his highest finish is T35 in 2009. Kapur missed seven cuts on the spin during the middle part of the season but has bounced back in recent times, cashing in his last four strokeplay starts. His T24 at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland two months ago was his best finish in that run.