By IANS
New Delhi : The stage for the 44th edition of the Hero Honda Indian Open golf tournament is all set with five former champions joining the fray for the tournament which starts here Thursday.
The tournament is going to be star studded, as the field will be led by defending champion Jyoti Randhawa, who had also won the tournament in 2000. Others to join the fray are Thai Thaworn Wiratchant (2005 champion), Singaporean Mardan Mamat (2004), American Mike Cunning (2003) and Vijay Kumar (2002).
The field will also be strengthened by Jeev Milkha Singh, who considers the absence of an Indian Open trophy in his cabinet as a big vacuum.
Indian players have always been very strong on home turf and the last 10-12 years more than ever have seen Indian golf come of age.
Ali Sher started it off with twin wins in 1991 and 1993 Indian Opens. Since then, Indian golf has been on the ascendant. Two years later at the 1995 Gadgil Western Masters, the only time it was held, Gaurav Ghei chipped in an eagle from 60 yards on the 72nd hole to win the title.
Thereafter, for many years India had two Asian Tour events, the Indian Open and the Hero Honda Masters.
Indians emerged winners in five of the six editions of the Hero Honda Masters between 1997 and 2004 — Randhawa and Arjun Atwal winning it twice and Harmeet Kahlon once.
As for the Indian Open, Firoze Ali won it in 1998 and Atwal followed in 1999. Randhawa made a hat-trick for India in 2000.
The success story for India continued in 2002 when Vijay Kumar emerged Indian Open champion at DGC and in 2006 Randhawa won his second Indian Open.
Since 1995, Indians have won nine Asian Tour titles at home, making them the most successful nation on Indian courses.
The Indian stars will however have to contend with foreigners, who have slowly but steadily come to grip with Indian conditions. The likes of Wiractchant, Cunning and Mamat are all familiar with the Indian conditions and will be looking forward to add to their collections.