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Asia's stars line up with world elite at Doral for WGC

The stars of the Asian Tour will be looking for some measure of redemption when they compete in the WGC-CA Championship in Florida starting on Thursday.

Reigning Asian Tour number one Jeev Milkha Singh of India, Chinese Taipei's Lin Wen-tang, Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng and New Zealand's Mark Brown will compete against the world's elite at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa.

World number one Tiger Woods, who recently made his comeback from a knee surgery, will headline the field.

At last month's WGC-Accenture Match Play, Singh, Lin and Prayad suffered disappointing first round exits but with the CA Championship, which offers US$8 million in total prize money, reverting back to the strokeplay format, the Asians are aiming to put up a better showing.

Prayad, winner of three titles in Japan last year, said: "You can't predict the result of Match Play. You just go out there and play your best as it's unpredictable."

Currently ranked 55th in the world, the smooth-swinging Thai is hoping to break into the top-50 by the end of the month which will earn him an invitation to US Masters next month, the year's first major. A good week at Doral could just do it for the Thai.

He was invited to play at Augusta National Golf Club last year but withdrew with injury in the second round.

Singh and Lin, who have earned places in the Masters, will also be looking at a good showing in Doral, known as the Blue Monster, to underline the region's growing strength in the game.

Also in the field include Asian Tour honorary members K.J. Choi and Vijay Singh, South African James Kingston and Yang Yong-eun, who won the Honda Classic on Sunday to earn his starting place at the CA Championship.

March 11, 2009