Muirfield, Scotland, 15-07-2013

KAPUR LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT AT HIS SECOND MAJOR APPEARANCE

India’s Shiv Kapur will be banking on his experience of playing in Europe in recent years in order to make an impact in his second appearance at The Open Championship. Kapur will be the only Indian in the elite field at The Open scheduled to get underway from July 18 at Muirfield in Scotland.

Kapur, who won on the Asian Tour back in 2005 in his rookie season, qualified for the year’s third Major championship at the Local Final Qualifying (LFQ) event in Dunbar, Scotland two weeks ago.

His first appearance at The Open Championship was in 2006 and he still has vivid recollection of his Major debut despite missing the halfway cut by one shot.

“It was the most incredible week of my life. I was like a kid in a candy store and just soaked up the whole experience. Playing that year made me realise why there is such a hype surrounding the majors and it lived up to every moment,” said Kapur.

The 31-year-old Shiv knows he will have to adapt his game to negotiate the challenging conditions at the links course.

“Playing links golf is a whole new challenge because it requires a lot of creativity and imagination. Most of the time yardages don’t mean much because you need to be able to control your flight and spin of the golf ball.

“I’m practising shots that you don’t usually encounter on most weeks on tour and the golf course is much more demanding so mentally you have to be up for the challenge.

“I’m going to make a few changes to my equipment to better prepare for the wind and of course practice a bunch of shots around the greens to get used to the variable bounce of links greens,” he added.

Kapur seeks to make a mark in his second Major tournament by giving it his best shot.

“The goal is to play up to my potential and I feel if I can do that, I definitely won’t be there just completing the numbers. I’ll approach it like any other event and try to get into the mix.”