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Singh heads stellar Asian line-up in Maybank Malaysian

A powerful line-up of Asian Tour stars will assemble at next week's US$1.29 million Maybank Malaysian Open bent on keeping the trophy firmly in the continent.

India's Jeev Milkha Singh, the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit champion last season, will spearhead a star-studded cast from the region which includes former number ones Jyoti Randhawa of India and Thai duo Thaworn Wiratchant and Thongchai Jaidee, a two-time winner of the Malaysian Open.

Additionally, 13 other winners from last season including Prom Meesawat and Chinarat Phadungsil of Thailand, India's Gaurav Ghei, Singaporean Mardan Mamat and Chinese Taipei's Lu Wei-chih and Lin Wen-tang, will converge at Saujana Golf and Country Club.

Since 1999 when the Maybank Malaysian Open was first co-sanctioned with the European Tour, the event has been won six times out of eight editions by Asian Tour stalwarts, signifying the growing strength of golf in the region.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han is looking forward to another memorable "East vs West" duel next week.

"The Maybank Malaysian Open holds a special place in Asian golf history. As one of the region's most prestigious national Opens, the Malaysian Open has the honour of being the first Championship in Asia to be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

"We believe that another one of our players can triumph once again at Saujana. Over the years, our top players have been successful in winning the Malaysian Open and we hope this trend will continue," said Han.

Singh will be the man to watch following a remarkable rise to be amongst the world's elite last season. After a seven-year winless run, the Indian star, who is the son of an Olympic sprinter, claimed four global victories and was crowned as Asia's new number one for the first time in his career.

He won the Volvo China Open, Volvo Masters in Spain, which was Europe's season-ending event and secured back-to-back triumphs in Japan to end the season in 37th place on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Singh, playing in the Dubai Desert Classic this week, will arrive in Malaysia on Wednesday morning as he will be in New Delhi on Tuesday to receive one of India's top awards, the Padmashri Award for excellence from India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"This award will always stay with me for the rest of my life. My father got that too in 1959 and now I've got it in 2007. I'm very excited about this award. It's one of the highest awards for Indians. It's a big honour for me. I've always grown up hearing my father talk about the award and now I can tell him I've got it too," Singh said.

No fewer than six former champions of the Malaysian Open will be in the field next week. Thailand’s Thongchai, England's Lee Westwood, Scotland's Alistair Forsyth, Chinese Taipei's Yeh Wei-tze, Canadian Rick Gibson and American Clay Devers will vie for the title.

Westwood's Ryder Cup teammate Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, former US Open champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark will also feature in Saujana. Other top names from Europe include Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Nick Dougherty of England and Italian Emanuel Canonica.

Febraury 2, 2007