Jyoti Randhawa, currently second on the Asian Order of Merit and 18th on the European Order of Merit, will lead the Indian challenge at the million-dollar TCL Classic, a joint sanctioned event between European and Asian Tours.
The other Indians in the field are Jeev Milkha Singh, desperate to get out of the winless streak extending to five years; Harmeet Kahlon, whose sole Asian Tour win came in 2002; Rahil Gangjee, winner of the Volvo Masters, China in his rookie year last season; the seasoned Amandeep Johl and rookie Shiv Kapur, both in search of their maiden Asian Tour titles.
The Indians have been in good nick of late.
Coming of 2004, when he closed the season with a win in the Volvo Masters of Asia and finished second on the Merit List in Asia, Randhawa has made cut in each of the five events he has played on European Tour this year. He was second at the Malaysian Open, tied 11th at Dubai Desert Classic and tied 12th at the Qatar Masters. His earnings of just over 157,000 Euros have made certain that he will keep his European Tour card for 2006.
"I am due for another good result, as I have been playing well and it just a question of getting four good rounds. I have closed well, but need to put it together," said Randhawa.
"I have a couple of appearances in WGC coming up later this year and will try and qualify for the Majors, too."
Jeev, who was in contention in the Thailand Masters a couple of weeks back, is hoping to build on the good final round he had in Qatar last week.
"In Thailand Open, I messed up the final round in windy conditions and in Qatar I recovered well in the final round. Hopefully things will look up from here," he said.
Harmeet was the sole leader after three rounds in Thailand Open, but collapsed to fifth in the closing stages. Gangjeee has been missing a few cuts of late, but memories of his win in China last year should help him think positively. Johl, who has lapsed into a lean patch is another player to look out for.
Meanwhile, the European challenge will be spearheaded by Paul Casey, Paul McGinley and Colin Montgomerie, one quarter of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup side which beat the United States last September.
Montgomerie won the inaugural edition of the TCL Classic in 2002 when the event was staged solely by the Asian Tour at Harbour Plaza Golf Club, Shenzhen, southern China. Now, the US $1 million event is jointly sanctioned by The European Tour and the Asian Tour in collaboration with the China Golf Association.
The Scot, fourth in the Dubai Desert Classic, continues his quest to return to the world's top 50 and secure a place in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National next month. At the moment, the seven time European Tour Order of Merit winner is 54th on the Official World Golf Ranking and he must finish inside top two to get into top 50, which will get him a berth into Player's Championships and then the Masters.
