Title-drought over, Ghei's eyes on greater glory

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI) Since laying his fingers on Gadgil Western Masters in 1995, it seemed Gaurav Ghei's version of ''Waiting For Godot''. While Godot never comes in Samuel Beckett's 1952 masterpiece, Ghei spared him the same fate when he laid his fingers on the Taiwan Masters and the veteran Indian golfer is on an all-time high after ending the title drought.

''Since 1995, it was long 11 years and my career has seen lot of ups and downs in between. But I never gave up and in the end, my perseverance paid off,'' Ghei said, adding he was relieved with the win.

In an interview with UNI ahead of the Hero Honda Indian Open, Ghei had a flashback of his career that had a perfect start, including a win over the then world number two Colin Montgomerie in the Alfred Dunhill Cup and an appearance, first Indian to do so, in the 1997 British Open. But a hernia operation threw his career off the track and that marked a new struggle.

''Beating Montgomerie was like something straight out of fiction.

After all, beating defending champions Scotland in St Andrews, with me pitted against him, is not something you get to see everyday.

That upset win put India on global map.

''At hindsight, I guess I caught Montgomerie on one of his off-days in the strokeplay-matchplay. It was a one-off incident of course,'' he said, downplaying the win.

But the ecstasy was followed by agony and a hernia operation meant he had to sit out of the greens for almost a year. However, help from Claude Harmon, whose father Butcher was Tiger Woods' long-time tutor, came handy and the Indian gradually clawed his way back to the course.

''Coming back was not easy for my game had developed some bad habits and I was struggling with my swing. Then Harmon came forward and gradually I started feeling confident about it and things slowly looked brighter,'' he said.

The year 2004 promised better things with two top-10 finishes -- Mercuries Taiwan Masters and Taiwan Open-- and then came second in last year's Indian Open.

And so far, Ghei has had a decent outing, finishing tied fifth in TCL Classic in China and joint ninth in the Asian Masters before winning the crown in Taiwan Masters.

''I never lost confidence even during the slump and thought of playing well, without bothering about wins. Now that I won at Taiwan Masters, I just can't sit back and relax. With renewed confidence, I'm going to give it my best,'' he said, adding he plans to compete in the European Tour events next year.

''A win can do wonders for a player's morale and it's same with me. I have been in good form and striking the ball well. Now the job is to maintain the tempo,'' added the golfer.

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