Golfers’ bonding camp ends ahead of Louis Phillip Cup

Bengaluru, May 29 (IANS) The three-day team bonding camp for the Louis Phillip Cup concluded here at the Zion Hills Golf County on Sunday, with the players getting a fix on each other’s game and getting into the right frame of mind for the tournament.

All the players, along with their managers and mentors, moved back to Bengaluru where the action will unfold with the pro-am event on Tuesday.

They were all appreciative of the camp and felt that it has not only helped their own individual games but has also put the entire team in good stead. With as much as Rs.1.2 crore up for grabs -- the second largest purse in domestic golf -- none of them wanted to leave anything to chance.

Young Manu Gandas of DLF Gurgaon confessed that he initially fell that it would difficult to change one’s playing style in three days. "But I must say that it has helped me in rectifying certain aspects of my game. I am now confident and feel that these will help me during the course of the tournament,” he said in a release.

Zion Hills Bengaluru’s M. Dharma wholeheartedly agreed with Gandas, counting the benefits from the camp.

Anirban Lahiri’s celebrate coach Vijay Divecha, who will be managing Jaypee Greens Greater Noida, was excited about becoming one of the first manager-mentors for the Louis Philippe Cup.

Explaining the role he has already played, he said: "I have talked them into being calmer and not get too tired because the main tournament is still a couple of days away.

He added: "I have come to the conclusion after the camp that even though you want them to play in a particular way, the players will continue to put emphasis on their individual strengths. I don’t think I am going to change that."

His teammate Udayan Mane conceded that playing under the watchful eyes of Divecha was very helpful.

Defending champions Navratna Ahmedabad’s Shankar Das stressed that after the camp they were even more confident of winning the title again. "I never realised that such camps could be so much fun and be a wonderful learning experience too. We haven’t allowed our success to get to our head as that would only add to the pressure. Interestingly, the conditions here were windy which is how things will be at KGA too. So we have kind of already got advance feel of that."