The Gujarat Kensville Challenge was given another big boost this week with the news that European Tour star Shiv Kapur is to join the impressive field at Kensville Golf Club, in his native India, for the Challenge Tour’s first tournament of the year from January 26-30.
Kapur will join a strong contingent of Indian players, including Jyoti Randhawa and the defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar, while a host of players from around the world will also battle it out for the €200,000 prize fund near Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat.
European Tour winner John Parry is also in the field whilst his fellow Englishmen Phillip Archer, who finished 29th in the European Tour Money List in 2007, and Robert Dinwiddie will both be chasing their fourth Challenge Tour title in India.
The crowds, however, are sure to follow the many local stars on show as they attempt to make it two Indian winners in two years. Kapur, for one, is still searching for his first win on the European circuit, having already won the Volvo Masters of Asia on his way to winning the Rookie of the Year award on the Asian Tour in 2005.
He did come agonisingly close to a maiden European Tour victory in 2010, when he lost out in a play-off with Richie Ramsay for the South African Open Championship, but the 29 year old from New Delhi will be hoping that his first appearance on the Challenge Tour will end in success.
Randhawa also makes his Challenge Tour debut in similar circumstances, having recorded no fewer than seven top three finishes on The European Tour over the past decade – the most recent of which was a tied second at the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open – but not yet secured that elusive win.
Bhullar returns to defend his title after a year of mixed success on The European Tour in which he clinched his first top ten finish at the Czech Open in August but made just five cuts in ten appearances.
A two-time winner on the Asian Tour, the man from Kapurthala in north India will no doubt be the centre of attention when the Gujarat Kensville Challenge tees off at the end of the month.
Other Indians in the field include Himmat Rai, winner of the 2011 ISPS Handa Singapore Classic on the Asian Tour, and Chiragh Kumar, winner of the 2011 Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) Order of Merit.
The eyes of the rest of the world, especially in the USA, are likely to be focused on the professional debut of young American Peter Uihlein, who built a strong reputation in a stellar amateur career as a future star of the game.
A year after achieving a 100 per cent record for the victorious US team at the Walker Cup, the 22 year old former World Amateur Number One won the US Amateur Open in 2010, before announcing his name on the global stage by making the cut at The 2011 Open Championship as an amateur.
A field of 114 will tee up in the event, comprising 60 players from the Challenge Tour, 48 from the PGTI and six sponsor invites. Three more places were filled by the top finishers in a unique Qualifier Round held at the Noida Golf Course, with Amit Dube, Rahul Bajaj and Kunal Bhasin all earning berths in the field.
The 7,250 yard, par 72 course at Kensville Golf Club, which was designed by European Tour champion Jeev Milkha Singh, drew widespread praise from the players during the inaugural staging of the tournament in 2011.
