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European trio to play in Hero Honda Indian Open

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.

Hero Honda’s support of the Indian Open is an extension of their golf sponsorship programme. They have been at the forefront of professional golf in India for a number of years through sponsorship of the domestic tour and the Hero Honda Masters from 1997 to 2003.

In-form Dyson, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit title in 2000 following three victories, could well be the man to beat in the Hero Honda Indian 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.

“Last year, the Indian Open welcomed a new title sponsor in Hero Honda and this new and exciting partnership has indeed created greater excitement and a brighter future for this wonderful event. It is also tremendous that this year’s Championship will see a US$100,000 rise in total prize fund to US$400,000 which is a significant boost for the tournament and our players,” said Kyi Hla Han, Chairman, Asian Tour.

“The Asian Tour has continued to prosper this season with a record US$24 million in prize money on offer to our talented players and it is thanks primarily to great events like the Hero Honda Indian Open that we are able to sustain our growth,” added Han.

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.

“It is with great enthusiasm that we look forward to the 43rd staging of our national Open. Cleary everything is in place for another memorable week of golf and on behalf of the Indian Golf Union I would like to extend my hand in appreciation to Hero Honda and Delhi Golf Club,” said Mr T. T. Jaganathan, Vice President, Indian Golf Union.

“The Indian Open boasts a wealth of great memories and with the tournament continuing to build in stature on the Asian Tour we are sure many more great chapters will be written about the event in the future,” added Jaganathan.

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.

“We were able to bring a lot of experience in promoting golf events to the Hero Honda Indian Open last year. We also learned a great deal about the game on the subcontinent which we will be able to use in order to make this year’s tournament even better,” said Chris Jordan, Senior Vice President, World Sport Group.

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.

September 28, 2006