By IANS
New Delhi : Commitment to the US Professional Golf Association (PGA) tour has forced Indo-Swede golfer Daniel Chopra to skip the inaugural EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters to be played at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) starting Feb 7.
The Indian Masters will see the biggest Indian representation in any European Tour event with the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Gaurav Ghei leading the Indian challenge in the $2.5 million tournament.
Organisers were keen to have Chopra, who won the Mercedes Benz Championship in Hawaii earlier this month. But in the same week, Chopra will play at the $6 million AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which is one of the most prestigious on the PGA tour.
South African and former world No.1 Ernie Els, Scottish Colin Montogomerie and Thomas Bjorn are some of the top golfers who are expected to set the par-72 DGC course on fire.
Atwal was elated at the prospect of playing at home after a long time. His last win at home was the Hero Honda Indian Open in 1999. “I am looking forward to playing in India after a long time. It will be an exciting contest, as the field seems to be very competitive.”
The tournament is tri-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and promoted by ‘golf in Dubai’.