GURGAON, INDIA | Drama and (John)
Daly go hand in hand. Win or lose or
withdraw, he attracts attention, but
sometimes it becomes a little too much
to bear. Like last week. In the first
round, Daly hit a tree root en route to a
79 and then tweeted that he may have
“snapped” his elbow, and withdrew the
next morning.
Earlier in the week he cribbed – via
tweets – the “gazillion documents” he
had to fill to get a visa and then cribbed
about the carpet in the hotel-apartment
his team had booked for him. And, yes,
he also tweeted about how his apartment shook from the “attack on an Israeli
diplomat’s car.” Daly was staying in an
apartment close to the golf course and the
car bomb happened in neighbouring Delhi,
some 25 kilometres ( 15 miles) away. By
the way, his caddie, who first complained
about the carpet in the hotel, had lost his
green card in Dubai the week before.
Scotsman Peter Whiteford, leading
after first and second rounds and still
in contention after the third, must have
felt that way after he got the dreaded
DQ on the fourth tee of the final round.
Whiteford’s DQ stemmed back to Saturday’s 18th, when video later showed
that his ball moved at address before
he hit his approach. Whiteford didn’t
realize it and thus signed an incorrect
scorecard. The hard part was Tour officials didn’t confirm the infraction until
he was on the fourth hole Sunday.
which has figured regularly on his
schedule. The 5-foot- 5 Kruger has been
coming to India since 2009. In 2009, he
was tied for 12th in the Indian Open and
tied 39th at the SAIL Open. In 2010, he
was tied 10th at the Indian Open but
missed the cut at SAIL, his only missed
cut in India. Last year, he was tied 16th
at Avantha, tied 19th at Panasonic and
tied 69th at the Indian Open.
“I love the curry and courses here,”
he said with a huge smile.
Kruger was drawn to God in 2010,
when on the eve of the Indian Open his
sister had a miscarriage back home.
He almost pulled out, but his father
convinced him to stay on. He shot 68 in
the first round and went on tie for 10th.
After winning the Avantha Masters, he
thanked his family, girlfriend, friends,
management and the organizers, and
then added a word for God. “Without
him (God) we are nothing,” he said.
It only seemed natural that Kruger
should win his maiden title in India,
Over the last few years his name
has often caused confusion for the
golf reporters. Jbe? What’s that? They
grapple with the spelling and then
settle for “Jbe.” The Sunshine Tour,
where he first appeared after turning
pro in 2007, the Asian Tour, where he
earned his spurs in 2009-2011, and the
European Tour, where he is beginning
to get noticed, all have him as “Jbe”
Kruger’ on their website. But his real
name is James Barry Kruger.
On the last day of the Avantha Masters, this reporter received a call from
Germany and the caller said he thought
he had seen Jbe Kruger’s ball move
before his third shot on the ninth. He
also wrote an e-mail to the European
Tour. Nothing happened, because the
ball probably had not moved. But it
does indicate how TV viewers are spelling trouble for players.
While Daly seemed unhappy in India,
two others, Todd Hamilton and Richard
Sterne, had fond memories of their
previous visits.
Hamilton said this was his seventh
visit – he had played five times in the
Indian Open. His best came in 1991,
when he tied for second, one shot be-
hind Ali Sher, who was the first Indian
pro to win the Indian Open. Hamilton
also came to India in 2004 for a Skins
event with Vijay Singh, Justin Rose and
Daniel Chopra. That was the year Ham-
ilton won the Honda Classic on the PGA
Tour and the British Open in a play-off
against Ernie Els.
