Amandeep Johl and Arjun Singh will lead the Indian contingent into the USD 700,000 Omega Hong Kong Open, which commences at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling on Thursday.
The tournament marking the penultimate event on the Asian PGA Tour will be played from 4th to 7th December, is a joint-sanctioned event with the European PGA, which begins its 2004 season with this event.
Apart from Johl (14th on APGA list) and Arjun Singh (19th) other Indians in the fray are the 2002 Indian Open winner, Vijay Kumar and 2002 Hero Honda Masters winner Harmeet Kahlon. Also entered in the field is the familiar name of Sri Lankan Anura Rohana, who is a regular member of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour.
Prominent Indians missing in action include List leader Arjun Atwal, 2002 APGA Money List winner Jyoti Randhawa and Nationwide Tour regular Jeev Milkha Singh.
While Atwal will be busy at the final Qualifying stages of the US PGA Tour, Randhawa will display his wares at the USD 100 million Nippon Golf JT Series, the final event on the Japanese PGA Tour, restricted for the top-25 golfers on the Japanese Order of Merit and winners on Japanese Tour this season. Jeev Milkha Singh is currently in the United States.
The other big names in the field include three of golf's elite players Ireland's Padraig Harrington, Englishman Nick Faldo and Michael Campbell from New Zealand. Harrington will be playing in the same group as Arjun Singh. Faldo has been paired with Zhang Lian wei of China and Korean KJ Choi, ranked 19th in the world.
Harrington, currently ranked tenth in the World rankings, finished in third position on The European Tour Volvo Order of Merit this year. The 32-year-old from Dublin tasted victory that last time he was in Asia, at last year's BMW Asian Open in Taiwan, and has triumphed seven times on The European Tour. He also won the World Cup with compatriot Paul McGinley in 1997.
Faldo, who visited Mumbai last week in connection with a golf course design project, competed in last year's Omega Hong Kong Open and finished 11th position. The Englishman has enjoyed an illustrious career highlighted by three British Open titles and three victories in the US Masters.
Campbell has also been in excellent form this season. He won the Irish Open for his sixth victory on the European Tour. The Kiwi played in the Omega Hong Kong Open in 2001 and finished in 13th place and will be hoping to improve on that this December.
The Omega Hong Kong Open was won last year by Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson.