'This is my first year on the Tour and I'm still rubbing my eyes in disbelief'
Rahil Gangjee, currently the hottest player on the Asian Tour, wanted to be a jockey growing up. But his father was worried that he would fall off his horse and ordered his son to give up riding. So the scion of a well-to-do Calcutta family decided to concentrate his mind on his second love - golf.
And it paid off for Gangjee, who last week won the inaugural Volkswagen Masters in Beijing, beating an illustrious field that included six-time Major winner Nick Faldo of England, Welshman Ian Woosnam and hot-shot Chinese Zhang Lianwei.
Having tasted his first win on the Asian Tour, Gangjee wants more and hopes to be in the hunt when the Macau Open - the 10th leg of this season's Asian Tour - draws to an end on Sunday at the Macau Golf and Country Club. 'I'm just going to have some fun out there. I still can't believe I won last week. This is my first year on the Tour and I'm still rubbing my eyes in disbelief that I won all that money. I'm still trying to calculate how much it is in Indian rupees,' laughed Gangjee yesterday.
The thrill of winning is still with the 25-year-old Gangjee. He is unspoiled by all the adulation that has come his way since he beat Korean Mo Joong-kyung in a playoff to take home a US$48,500 winner's purse as well as vault to 13th place on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.
His refreshing charm was noted by the tournament's star player, Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who hoped that Gangjee would remain this way as his career progressed.
