A Day at the Home of Golf- Old Course ,St.

Andrews with Graeme Mcdowell and Ross Fisher This has been the first visit to Scotland for our 12 year young son Dhruv and he was here to play at the Home of Golf,Old Course, St. Andrewsf. No, he did not have a prior booking,nor was he a part of the lucky daily draw,. In fact Dhruv was the receipant of a very generous special price courtesy his 2nd place finish along with playing partner and Spanish International Pablo Larazzabel at the Abdullah Al Naboodah hosted Emirates Airline sponsored The Invitational,in Dubai. Dhruv was the winner of the Golden Ticket for winning the grand finals in the junior category which enabled him to play at the Invitational considered by many as the best Pro Am event in the Middle East and now officially being recognized by the European Tour. This price was very generously redonated by David o Leary to Dhruv for encouraging him further in his pursuit of his dream to be a professional golfer. This special price was to play a round of golf with US Open winner and Ryder Cup hero for the Europeans Graeme Mcdowell and his Ryder Cup team mate Ross Fisher. A dream price for any golfer and young Dhruv has been counting the days for this special day. The game was set for 27th September , a 1:30 pm tee off just before the Alfred Dunhill Championships. Dhruv was up and early arriving at the ever so famous course well before time. Seeing him warm up hitting range balls at the driving range with confidence did not truly reflect to the nervousness going through the 12 year old. Probably the fact that his golf pro from his home club, Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Mike Kinlochs presence helped ease Dhruvs anxiety as Mike very kindly offered to caddy Dhruv . Mike had in fact worked at the Old Course in St. Andrews before relocating in Dubai so Dhruv could not have asked for anyone better. Dhruv was enjoying watching all the professionals tee off from the famous 1st tee just in front of the R&A Building when he saw his playing partner at the Invitational, Pablo who immediately recognized him and offered his best wishes for Dhruvs game of a lifetime. Dhruv was over the moon as the only professional on the tour he knew recognized him after a good 6 months and took this as a good omen for things to follow. Just before the scheduled play time of 1.30,Dhruv was asked to practice his putting next to the tee off box and was left rubbing his eye in disbelief when he saw former world no. 1 Lee Westwood putting just 5 feet away!! It is definitely to the young mans credit seeing all these great players and his golfing heroes from such close quarters he still stood composed. Cometh the hour and it was such a great honour for young Dhruv to stand beside his idol Greame Macdowell who greeted him with a very warm

handshake. Dhruv was scheduled to play from the red tees as he was the only junior playing but the organizers wanted him to tee off from the adult tees only for the first hole . Seeing Graemes perfect tee shot just before him, Dhruv confidently strode to the box, calmly placed his tee, nodded at the instructions Mike gave and let it rip with his new Burner Driver which his mother had gifted him the day before. Hearing the generous applause from the crowd, he quickly realized the shot was good and was surprised himself at the distanceof 220 yards he drove ( he confessed later that it was the longest drive he had ever hit)He was all the more charged when Gmac came up to him and rewarded him with a high five and he was away. .

The next 4 hours was his best ever time on a golf course. The excitement of playing at the historic Home of Golf, giving him company were living legends Graeme Mcdowell and Ross Fisher, thrill of playing on one of the most unforgiving courses, genuine appreciation from these stars whenever he hit good shots, sincere advise by them when a shot could have been played better.gosh it was so educative and enjoyable!! Though this was meant to be a very serious affair,it was turning out to be one enjoyable ride. True to Scottish weather, in those 4 hours Dhruv experienced, bright sunshine, very strong winds and overcast conditions. Thankfully the rain gods obliged his prayers and stayed away till his game was over. During all this fun, both Gmac and Ross had the time to enquire about Dhruvs school, practice regime, home course other interests and many other topics. Halfway through the game they all shared lunch together beside the 10th tee where Dhruv was introduced to Gmacs father who was walking along and

he shared some very inspiring stories of Gmac when he was a little boy.Hole 17 ( the Road) was all fun. Both the champions drove their balls towards the famous Russack Hotels and were hoping they did not break any window panes. Both encouraged Dhruv to hit from the mens tees over the prestigious Old Course hotel and Dhruv had the loudest cheer from both for his drive on this hole. The second shot from Dhruv landed on the green and rolled towards the road but miraculously stopped at the edge of the green. He was actually on the green on two from the championship tees. Pity he just missed his par for a bogey. This is when Gmac invited Dhruv to come to the infamous road hole bunker and asked him to try a shot from the bunker. After following instructions from Gmac Dhruv got the ball out on his first attempt amid loud applause from both his partners and Dhruv had his widest smile on display. There was a bigger surprise in store when all were heading to the 18th and both asked Dhruv to join them on the Swilken Bridge for some great photographs. Truly a priceless moment in the young 12 year olds life. Slowly Dhruv realized how fast the 4 hours had passed and sadly all this fun and experience would come to an end shortly. As all were approaching the 18th green there was a sizeble crowd waiting to watch the Ryder cup heroes. Humble Gmac in fact even removed the flag for Dhruvs last put for par, and engulfed him to a warm hug before signing some autographs for Dhruv. Ross infact invited Dhruvs younger brother to join both for some more photographs . Both enquired if Dhruv had a good time to which Dhruv had tears in his eyes. Both promised to meet Dhruv during their next visit to Dubai and thus ended a truly priceless day out with these living legends. Some Extra Thoughts The humility ,humble and friendly nature of both these great players had to be seen to be believed. Dhruv had the time of his life but was even more happy when he heard that Gmac had tweeted later in the day that he too enjoyed with Dhruv. ( Dhruv was actually thrilled that Gmac remembered his name!) Dhruv sincerely thanks David O Leary and Abdullah Al Naboodah for gifting this fantastic prize to him. Also thanks to his coach Stephen Hubner and Mike Kinloch for all support tohim for the past 4 years. Dhruv had 8 pars and a beauty of a birdie on Hole 9 to compensate his triple bogey on holes 2 and 15 to finish of with a gross 89 less handicap 13 to finish with a 76 which was the par score from the red tees . I am sure it will take a while before all this actually sinks in but on his behalf would like to thank everyone for making our first trip to Scotland so very special.Thank You Old Course!!