Emiliano, Bjorn to headline Indian Open golf

From the host’s perspective, all the leading Indian golfers will be back for their ‘home’ Open. S. S. P. Chowrasia, Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma will be watched with added interest.

Indian golfers Rashid Khan (left) and Shiv Kapur with the Hero Indian Open Trophy.

Amidst a strong Indian presence in this year’s $1.75 million Indian Open golf, starting at the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurgaon, from March 8, the overseas challenge lacks quality at the moment. Though the final list of confirmations is awaited, Argentina’s Grillo Emiliano and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn are only the marquee names. Emiliano was a member of the 2017 President’s Cup. The 46-year-old Bjorn, named the 2018 Ryder Cup captain, is clearly far from his best form that earned him 19 international titles, 15 of them on the European Tour. From the host’s perspective, all the leading Indian golfers will be back for their ‘home’ Open. Defending champion S. S. P. Chawrasia, the 2015-champion and 76th-ranked Anirban Lahiri, World No. 72 Shubhankar Sharma, who won his second European title this month to go with the Johannesburg Open in December last will be watched with added interest. Adding to the home challenge will be the presence of Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Ajeetesh Sandhu, besides seasoned regulars like Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Mukesh Kumar and Chiragh Kumar, among others.