The Hero Honda Indian Open will return to the glory days of old next month when the tournament features a line-up of marquee names that includes three proven European Tour winners -- Andrew Coltart from Scotland, Englishman Simon Dyson and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.
The prestigious event, which will be played at Delhi Golf Club from October 19 to 22, has not boasted the star player element for well over a decade, but in its 43rd year will reap the rewards of featuring three players who boast resplendent resumes.
Dyson has won twice this year on the European Tour while Coltart and McDowell also boast two titles each in Europe to their names. Coltart also played in the Ryder Cup in 1999 and was part of Scotland's winning Alfred Dunhill Cup team in 1995.
Their participation will complement a strong Asian Tour field that will include defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, and India's Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur and Gaurav Ghei, who finished runner-up last year.
In addition to the three star player invites, Hero Honda are marking their second year of title-sponsoring the Indian Open by increasing the prize money by US $100,000 to US$400,000.
Last year Hero Honda also ensured the tournament was the first golf event to be broadcast live on television in India and they will repeat that this year with live coverage at the weekend on the ESPN STAR Sports network.
"Hero Honda were delighted to be able to move forward the country's national Open so significantly with live television last year and this season we are proud that several famous faces from Europe will compete," said Pawan Munjal, Managing Director and CEO, Hero Honda Motors.
"We were extremely satisfied with our involvement with the Indian Open in 2005, from the coverage the tournament received to the standard of play. Hero Honda strives to raise its level of performance each year and this is an approach we have applied to the Indian Open. We are confident that this year's event will once again capture the imagination of India's rapidly growing golfing population," added Munjal.
In-form Dyson, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit title in 2000 following three victories, could well be the man to beat at the Open. He claimed the Enjoy Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open, a joint-sanctioned event with Europe, in March and the KLM Dutch Open in a sudden-death play-off in August.
Coltart's trip to India will no doubt bring back memories of the 1995 Alfred Dunhill Cup when although he was part of the winning team with Colin Montogomerie and Sam Torrance they lost to India in the earlier rounds.
In one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history Coltart was beaten by Jeev Milkha Singh while Ghei beat Montgomerie.
The Indian Open is India's oldest running international sporting competition and has been staged at Delhi Golf Club for the past four years. The inaugural Indian Open was held at Delhi Golf Club in 1964, when Australian golfing legend Peter Thomson claimed the title.
World Sport Group will promote the event for the second successive year as part of a six-year agreement with the Asian Tour. They are responsible for the sponsorship, event management and media affairs of the tournament.
Thaworn's victory last year was amongst his four triumphs in 2005, which eventually saw him finish as the leading player on the Order of Merit with record single season earnings of US$510,123,
The Thai star took the lead on the second day and was never caught. He carded a final round two-under-par 70 to win by two strokes from Ghei, who celebrated his 37th birthday on that same Sunday.
The last Indian golfer to lift the trophy was Vijay Kumar in 2002. It was in 1991 that Ali Sher became the first Indian to win the national Open. He triumphed again in 1993 before the title stayed in Indian hands for three consecutive years following Firoz Ali's win in 1998, Arjun Atwal's success in 1999 and Randhawa's victory in 2000.
