Jeev, Westwood and Dougherty to play Johnnie Walker Classic

England’s Lee Westwood and Nick Dougherty will line up alongside local hero Jeev Milkha Singh when Asia’s premier luxury golf event, the Johnnie Walker Classic, tees off at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon, Delhi, from February 28 to March 2, 2008.

The English duo and India’s number one golfer will join a host of international stars in the field that includes Adam Scott, the 2005 Johnnie Walker Classic winner and world number seven, Vijay Singh, the world number 10, Ian Poulter, who recently won the Dunlop Phoenix Open in Japan, and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, who, in partnership with fellow Scot, Marc Warren, won the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China three weeks ago.

“We are doubly pleased to have Jeev confirmed for the Johnnie Walker Classic as, not only is he the current Johnnie Walker Asian Golfer of the Year, but he has shown incredible courage and determination to achieve at the highest level of his sport,” said Cristina Diezhandino, Acting Global Brand Director for Johnnie Walker.

“And with the confirmation of Westwood and Dougherty, we are building towards yet another top quality field for the Johnnie Walker Classic, which since its inauguration in 1990 has been won by most of the biggest names in the sport such as Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.”

Westwood, currently ranked 24th in the world, has won twice this year, first in May, at the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia, in Spain and then the Quinn Direct British Masters in September. Just last month the 34 year old finished tied with Ross Fisher and the world number two, American, Phil Mickelson, in the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai, only to narrowly lose out to Mickelson on the first extra hole.

Dougherty, a protégé of six-time Major and two-time Johnnie Walker Classic champion Nick Faldo, enjoyed his best year on The European Tour in 2007 when he finished 11th on the final Order of Merit. This was due largely to his victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, his second European Tour title, and two joint second positions in the Scandinavian Masters and New Zealand Open.

Singh, the Chandigarh-based professional, topped the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit last year and won four times around the world including the Volvo China Open in April and the prestigious Volvo Masters Tournament in Spain, in October. From there the 35-year-old went on to secure back-to-back victories in Japan at the Casio World Open and the Golf Nippon Series GT Cup, all of which catapulted him to a record high of 37th on the Official World Golf Rankings and won him the Johnnie Walker Asian Golfer of the Year Award.

“It would be dream come true for me to win a tournament as prestigious as the Johnnie Walker Classic on home soil,” said Singh at a press conference in Delhi today.

“It is also great for golf in India that Johnnie Walker has decided to stage this prestigious event at the DLF Golf & Country Club and I believe that the presence of some of the world’s best golfers in our country will inspire a new generation of Indian golfers,” concluded Singh.

First played in Hong Kong in 1990, the Johnnie Walker Classic broke new ground by not only being the first tournament to be jointly sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian golf Tours, but also by being unique in that the event has been played in seven countries and at 12 golf clubs over the past 17 years.

The 2008 Johnnie Walker Classic has also gained the all-important support of the PGTI, the Professional Golfers Tour India.

December 13 , 2007

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