Australian Aaron Baddeley won the Northern Trust Open at Riviera in Las Angeles today, his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2007. A world away, in New Delhi, India, S. S. P. Chowrasia won the Avantha Masters for his second European Tour victory, following a triumph at the Indian Masters three years ago. Baddeley held off an early challenge from Fred Couples and a late run by Vijay Singh to win by two shots, while Chowresia won by a single stroke after Englishman Robert Coles bogeyed the last to drop out of a tie for first. Chowrasia’s final round featured seven birdies and a late double bogey that would have led to a playoff had Coles not faltered on 18.
Dale Lynch is the link to Chowrasia, through another one of his players, Arjun Atwal, the first Indian golfer ever to win on the PGA Tour. Last year, readers of The A Position were introduced first to Lynch, who had recently relocated to the USA, opening a teaching academy at The Cliffs in South Carolina. They were taken along as Lynch helped Atwal recover from injuries and relearn a swing that he could execute without pain. Atwal, who was also profiled in The A Position after his Wyndham win last year, learned to play at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkatta, where his family were members.
It is also great to see golf personalities who were not particularly well-known when first profiled in The A Position now playing a stronger and stronger role in golf’s wider world. Lynch’s success with Baddeley, who learned his swing from Lynch as a boy in Australia before straying, the prodigal golfer now returned, will surely attract interest from other aspiring pros. And if Chowrasia continues to succeed, he may someday join Atwal on the larger stage. Just as India’s economic growth has made it a rival to China, India’s golf culture, while much older then China’s but for the time being eclipsed by China’s dramatic growth and its extraordinary projects, such as the two Mission Hills (Shenzhen and Haikou), surely India and China will some day each take center stage in world golf. It would not surprise me if a 21st century rivalry develops in imitation of the US-European Ryder Cup featuring national teams from India and China.