Bangkok: Gaganjeet Bhullar is just 36 years old and has many years of top-level golf left in him, but if there is someone on the Asian Tour who turns into a lion in winter, quite literally, it’s him.
The Chandigarh pro is the most successful Indian in Asian Tour’s history with 11 titles. But even more impressive is how he handles the business end of the season.
As many as 10 of his 11 wins have come in the second half (post July) – with three in August, two in October, and two in November. His only win in the early part of the season was the Asian Tour International in Thailand, way back in February 2012.
Bhullar is once again sticking to the time-tested script.
Last week, at the Black Mountain Championship, he led after 54 holes, but slipped on Sunday to finish tied 7th. And on the opening day of this week’s $2 million International Series Bangkok, he started with a superb bogey-free five-under-par 65 to be just one shot behind the leaders at 64.
Black Mountain was a slight blip in an otherwise impeccable record. It was only the second time in his career he did not win the title despite leading after three rounds.
Undaunted by that miss, Bhullar has continued to use the tailwind of his recent form.
On Thursday at Thai Country Club, after a fabulous round in which he hit 13 out of 14 fairways and four 15 greens in regulation, Bhullar said: “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 four starts before last week’s Black Mountain and languished at 122nd in the Order of Merit. What changed his fortunes is that the biggest weapon in his bag – the driver – started to behave.
The Driving Accuracy leader on the Asian Tour in 2023 (81.09%) and 2017 (79.17%) has very rarely finished outside the Top 10 in that stat.
After missing two cuts in Taiwan, where he found it difficult to control the ball off the tee, Bhullar missed only two fairways last 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,” said 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 said he wasn’t very disappointed that he could not convert his third-round lead into a win in Hua Hin last 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,” said 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 also started the tournament well, shooting a 4-under par 66. Among the Indians who finished in the morning, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (68), Shiv Kapur (69) and Rayhan Thomas (69) broke par.