Thai legend Thaworn Wiratchant leads steller cast at Indian Open

New Delhi: Two-time champion, Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand will look to complete a hattrict of titles when he leads an impressive cast to the USD 1.5 million Indian Open next week.

Thaworn, who holds an unprecedented 18 Asian Tour titles -- including the Indian Open crown in 2005 and 2012, will be among the top contenders at the event which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour for the first time.

Thaworn and Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal, who have won a combined total of six Order of Merit crowns, will form one of the strongest ever fields assembled at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) from February 19 to 22.

They will be joined by an in-form Anirban Lahiri, who won the Maybank Malaysian Open last week, evergreen Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, SSP Chawrasia, who has won twice at the DGC, and eight-time Asian Tour winner Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand.

More than 30 Asian Tour winners from over 20 different nationalities including title holder Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh will also feature at the prestigious event.

At the age of 48, Thaworn continues to perform at the highest level. He won the Queen's and King's Cup on home soil last year to finish seventh on the Order of Merit and will aim to increase his winning tally at the Hero Indian Open.

"Who says I'm old? Still young boy. I'm still enjoying my game every day and that's important. I love my golf and that's what keeps me going," said Thaworn, a two-time Asian Tour number one.

Chowrasia, who enjoyed a top-10 result in Malaysia last week, hopes to make a swift return to the winner's circle in a little over three months since he won his third Asian Tour title -- Panasonic Open India -- at DGC.

The 36-year-old has a solid track record on home soil as he won the 2008 Indian Masters and went on to secure another victory at the 2011 Avantha Masters. Both events were sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

"I can't wait to play at the Hero Indian Open. I won at the DGC course last year and I'm very familiar with the course. My National Open will be co-sanctioned with the European Tour and I'm determined to do well," said Chawrasia.

Following a solid 2014 season where he won once and posted five other top-10 results, Chawrasia took a break from golf during the off-season to recharge for the new season.

"It was a busy year-end for me last year and I needed to recover. I didn't practice much and that seemed to work for me because I had a good result in Malaysia. Now I'm ready to play my best golf and hopefully win again," said Chawrasia.