Muirfield, Scotland, 21-07-2013

Kapur signs off with a solid 71, cherishes The Open experience

Shiv Kapur ended the 142^nd Open Championships with his head held high after firing a solid even-par-71 in the fourth and final round at Muirfield on Sunday. Kapur finished the week at 15-over-299 in tied 73^rd place. Kapur, who opened with a stunning three-under 68 in round one, which included a starting run of six birdies on the first seven holes, shot 77 and 83 in the second and third rounds respectively.
“The birdie on the 18^th today (Sunday) felt good. I am sure a lot of players would have given a lot to have that,” said Kapur, who holed a 12-footer to complete his second appearance at the Open. Kapur, who had no birdies on third day, had three on the final day and it included a 15-footer on the last. His other three birdies were on third, fifth and ninth.

“There are a lot of positives I will take from this event. The front-nine on the first day showed me that I could play a higher level, but Saturday also showed me that I have lots to learn, especially about Links golf. Today it was a matter of restoring pride,” said Kapur, who was accompanied by his parents and family and few friends on each of the four days.

“I started (on Thursday) on such a high with the adrenaline rush. Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment when I got off to a rough start but I finished with a little bit of pride and my head held high today,” said Kapur summing up the week.

Kapur’s heroics on first day prompted two-time US PGA Tour winner Jason Dufner, to pun on Kapur’s name and tweet, “-6 on the front nine last group off, u got to be shivving me!!?!”

Kapur laughed at that and said, “It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I can be up there on the leaderboard because it shows that I can compete with the best players. I just need to be more consistent and sharpen each area of my game a little bit so that I can be right there in the mix.”

Kapur admitted to nervousness at the start of the final round. “I knew I had nothing to lose, but still I would be lying if I said I did not feel nervous after yesterday. Yet as the old golf cliché goes, I played one shot at a time and took it from there.”

“You don’t want to walk off the 18^th green with drooping shoulders and not being happy with what you’ve done. I’m glad the bad round was yesterday and not today so I can walk away with a smile,” he said.

Seeing his name up on the leaderboard, albeit for a brief moment in the opening round will forever be etched as one of the best experiences in his career.

“It is easy to pick out the best moment. It had to be when I saw ‘Kapur’ leading in the best tournament in the world. For years and years I’ve watched The Open and I thought it would be nice to have my name on that yellow leaderboard. That dream came true, though momentarily,” he smiled.

“I learnt a lot, it has been a great experience and I won’t trade it with anything. It was great to be on top of the leaderboard and great to learn from yesterday. I just have to move on, box on, take the positives and brush away the negatives,” said Kapur, now ranked 11^th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.