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Kapur bows out but finishes on a high note

Shiv Kapur's maiden appearance at the British Open was blown off course on Friday but the Indian prospect has vowed to return onto the major stage again.

The Asian Tour stalwart carded a one-over-par 73 in the second round at Royal Liverpool to miss the halfway cut by two strokes despite a courageous attempt where he birdied two of his closing three holes.

With a late afternoon tee time where strong winds prevailed over the Hoylake links, the 24-year-old learnt that golf was truly a game of inches as he agonisingly missed putts that he normally would have converted.

"I just played badly. I hit the ball terribly, I wasn't driving it well and I wasn't comfortable with the driver and hit many wayward shots. I don't deserve to make the cut," said Kapur.

He started poorly with bogeys on the sixth and ninth, both par threes. His first bogey was a careless miss from one foot where he said he was "brain dead.". Kapur also dropped shots on 14 and 15, which he failed to save par from four feet.

"I blew my chances with those bogeys at 14 and 15. I just left myself too big a hole. I didn't have a chance on 14 but I should have saved par on 15. I missed a putt by a foot on the sixth hole earlier which probably cost me the cut. I tried to hit it too firm. I don't know what happened. You can't do those things in major championships. It's the worst feeling in the world."

Kapur, who won the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia last December and is presently ranked 15th on the UBS Order of Merit, believes he has the game to play in many more majors.

"It was a good experience and I enjoyed it. I know I have the game that I shouldn't be sitting out this weekend and that's disappointing. Even though it was my first major, I wanted to do well. I learnt a lot and I kept fighting till the end.

"At the start of the day I was even par for the round and I thought the halfway cut would be that or one-under. Every player on the bubble would think of the cut and obviously I was. Playing in the afternoon was also a few shots harder but that's what you get when you're a qualifier. If you're top-10 in the world, you get the best draws. So, the aim is to get there," he said.

"My game feels good. There were a lot of positives. You always want to play with the best in the world and I don't think I'm too far off."

Kapur came close to wrapping up his maiden major appearance in style at the par five 18th. He rifled a superb three wood from 260 yards to 15 feet but as he said, golf was a game of inches and his eagle attempt slid inches wide.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed but next time around I'll learn from my mistakes," said Kapur.

July 21, 2006