The virgin, journeyman and 334th player in the world all meet at the British Open

Mark Garrod

The world’s best golfers – minus those who are on baby watch or injured – are at Royal Lytham this week for the Open Championship, one of the highlights of the British sporting summer. But the field also contains some names that will not be that familiar, even to those who follow the game fairly closely. Here are a few facts about a selection of players whose hope, of course, is that they will soon become household stars.

ANIRBAN LAHIRI
Indian Lahiri won the Asian qualifier in Bangkok in March, two months after attending a 10-day course at the Vipassana International Meditation Centre in Hyderabad.
“I had done it before and the course has always helped me to rediscover myself,” he said. “I didn’t go specifically for my golf – it has always helped me to get clarity in my personal life and in my head and that translates into my golf.
“I’ve become less angry on the golf course. It has also helped me stay in the present and not get ahead of myself.
“My expectations went up after the victory last year at the Panasonic Open and I started getting in my own way. That is what I must do differently this year.”
As for the coming Open the 25-year-old added: “It’s a great feeling and I think it will only sink in once I tee off.”

ANDREW GEORGIOU
The South African’s website proudly displays the words 2012 Open Championship participant on its home page. That is how much it means to him.
Georgiou, a 26-year-old who came through the international qualifier in Johannesburg, is equally proud of his faith.
“Before every round of golf I commit it to Jesus, then go out and compete as hard as I can,” he said. “I know my Lord wants me to be a winner.”
His mother is the Editor and Publisher of Africa’s leading evangelical Christian magazine.
“There were many times in my teens where I could have tried drugs and gone down the wrong path, but I can happily say that I have never tried any type of drug in my life,” he continued.
“There was and is still the pressure of sexual immorality, but fortunately I can also say that I am waiting for marriage and wear a purity ring to this day.”
On playing in The Open he said: “I am naturally very excited and working hard to give of my very best. I certainly want to make the cut, then my goal is to finish in the top 10.
“If I get that far, who knows?”

TED POTTER JR
In his first season in America’s second division – what used to be known as the Nationwide Tour and is now the Web.com Tour – in 2004 the 28-year-old played 24 events and missed 24 cuts.
That’s right. Total earnings of zero dollars, zero cents.
It took him 18 of those tournaments to have a round in the 60s and only one more was to follow. He finished the year 194 over par.
On the smaller Hooters Tour, left-hander Potter won no fewer than 14 times, was twice Player of the Year and earned $650,000, but back on the Nationwide Tour in 2007 he survived the cut only five times in 20 starts, earned just over 16,000 and ended up 152 over par.
Things really began to change last year when he won over $400,000, won twice and finally graduated to the main circuit – and two weeks ago at the Greenbrier Classic he won that as well, was given a cheque for over 1million and with it a place in his first major through a mini-money list in the States.
“When you’re missing cuts every week you get down on yourself,” he said. “But I was still young – I knew I had a long road ahead of me.”
Now it is has led to Lytham.

TROY KELLY
Being beaten by Potter in a play-off in West Virginia denied the 33-year-old his first PGA Tour win, but he was still handed a place in the Open Championship as the highest non-exempt player in the event.
Kelly had hip-replacement surgery in September 2010 after being diagnosed with arthritis. At first he did not know what was causing pain in his left hip, tried to play through it for two years, but reached the point where he could barely walk.
“For me to just play this game at a high level, I had to go get it done,” Kelly said.
It took almost a year for his muscle strength to return to normal, then he finished 11th on the former Nationwide Tour and moved up into the big league.

NICK CULLEN
The 27-year-old Australian beat the experienced Peter Senior in a play-off to come through the international qualifier at Kingston Heath in Melbourne back in January.
Now the Indonesia Open champion as well – a win that took him from 648th in the world to 334th – he said: “It is a dream come true – The Open was the one event I loved watching as a kid.
“But it’s also my job now and I’ve got to treat it in a professional manner.
“I want to be playing majors every year. I don’t want this to be a one-off.”
The victory in Jakarta came on only his second trip to Asia.
“I wasn’t sure at the start of the week how to go about it. Food for example — what to eat? Everything is very different. I ate a lot of bananas – probably five or six each round.”

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/SLVvb_-UUHs/post.aspx

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