Yuvraj Singh Sandhu. Asian Tour

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, such a dominant player on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in 2022, comes to this week’s The DGC Open at Delhi Golf Club under very different circumstances compared to last year. And he has a feeling it could lead to an even better result than his tied sixth finish in the inaugural edition last season.

Last year, the 26-year-old Chandigarh star was coming off an incredible victory on the PGTI Tour, having won the previous week at Tollygunge Club in Kolkata — making up a three-shot deficit against leader Viraj Madappa over the last three holes.

Sandhu then started The DGC Open with a disappointing three-over-par 75, but a closing 67 ensured he finished inside the top 10.

“I’m excited and I’m nervous at the same time, because I know that the game is in the right place,” said Sandhu, who finished tied 25th in the Hero Indian Open last month but has yet to reproduce the kind of form that saw him win five PGTI titles in 2022 and finish second on the Order of Merit, something that earned him an exemption to play on the Asian Tour.

“It is the Delhi Golf Club. You have got to put yourself in that position to even be in contention. It’s a golf course where you need to be at 100 per cent with every single shot.

“I have always found DGC a course where you have to let go of your ego. You can’t overpower this course. You have to respect it, no matter what. I always come here with that mindset that if I respect the golf course, somehow the course will respect me back.”

Even though Sandhu was in better form last year, he said he made a cardinal mistake at the DGC. He was overconfident.

“Last year, I had just won Tolly before coming to the DGC. It was a most unexpected and thrilling win, and one of my best ever,” said Sandhu, who is now ranked 407th in the OWGR.

“When I reached DGC, everybody was like congratulating me and saying: ‘Well played.’ I went into the tournament playing good golf and I had this feeling that I was going to have another good week. But that’s something you can’t do at DGC. It obviously showed me my place after the first three days.

“On the last day, I lowered my expectations, started respecting the golf course, and suddenly it started giving me back. I birdied the 12th, eagled the 14th, birdied 15th, made a bogey on 17th and then made a birdie the next hole again. It was a very casual round in terms of the mindset.

“I know I have not had big finishes this season, so I’ve already lowered my expectations, which is a good thing. This is the best mindset to enter DGC with.”

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu. Asian Tour

Sandhu, who was involved in a record six-hole play-off at DGC against his current roommate Arjun Prasad during the 2017 Northern India Amateur, said he felt confident he would be able to lift his game despite his recent run of form.

“I feel my game is not that consistent, but I feel sharp enough to win, or score better, this year. I know that if my body and my mind are both aligned in that same week, I will have a pretty good chance at winning like I did at some of the events last year where I won by eight and nine shots,” said Sandhu.

“I’m not looking for consistency in the sense that I want to push as hard as I can. And I have accepted the fact that when I push hard, there are going to be times when things are working in my favour and times when they are not. But there is a lot of comfort in knowing that these things that I am trying right now will pay off later in my golfing career.

“It’s something that I want to know about myself… how hard can I push? What’s the limit? I’m just trying to tell myself again and again and trying to make myself believe that I’m getting there. It will take time, but I am on the right path. I’m sure this year, I should have an international win under my belt.”

Not surprisingly the play-off loss in 2017 to Prasad is a constant topic of conversation, but Sandhu plans to recall only one memory when he tees off in the $750,000 tournament.

“Arjun is my roommate now and whenever we talk and room together, we invariably end up talking about that day. Probably, it’s time the golf course paid me back,” said Sandhu.

“But I don’t think of that loss. The only thing I remember from last year is shooting five-under on the last day. That’s something that I’m going to stick to. That’s the only memory I’m going to go with.”