New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) A new crop of Indian challengers and others from Asia will begin their quest for glory as the inaugural The DGC Open tees off at the fabled and tree-lined Delhi Golf Club here on Thursday.

A total of 138 players, including six amateurs, are in the field for the USD 500,000 event, which is the fourth event on the Asian Tour schedule for 2022.

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Although the Delhi Golf Club has staged countless international events since 1964, the latest one is the first on the course which has been newly-renovated by the nine-time Major winner, Gary Player, who is here in India.

Player, 86, winner of 165 international titles, including nine Majors on the regular Tour and another nine on the Seniors Tour, will be present at the club on Thursday morning.

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There will be a ceremonial tee-off by Player, who has expressed great satisfaction at how the course has been maintained.

"I am very happy with the way the DGC has taken care of it. I wish all the players the very best," he said.

Apart from a whole lot of youngsters, a long and distinguished list of past Asian Tour winners are also in the field for the event.

Among the top contenders for the USD 90,000 top prize will be Indians Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar and South Africa's Ian Snyman.

While Kapur had a Top-10 in Singapore recently, Bhullar and Snyman had Top-5 finishes at the International Series Thailand in Hua Hin earlier this month.

Snyman is also the leading Asian Tour member here at sixth place on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.

Bhullar's eight-under par 64. at the Black Mountain Golf Club was only bettered by event winner Sihwan Kim of the United States who shot a final round 63 in a 26-under aggregate.

Said Bhullar on tournament eve, "The new layout is absolutely amazing. The greens have a very professional look and there are a lot of undulating greens. It makes you think off the tee and makes you think when you are hitting the second shot as well.

"Today I played nine holes with Gary Player and it was a great honour to play with him and pick his brains. That actually helped us," said the Kapurthala golfer, who opened his season in Thailand three weeks ago.

The tournament also opens the door for a solid Indian challenge at the inaugural edition of the event.

The last time the Asian Tour was at the Delhi Golf Club in October 2018, Khalin Joshi walked away as the winner of the Panasonic Open. Though his international career has not moved along expected lines since, he will be keen to turn the clock back at one of his favourite courses.

Since the redesign of the DGC's Lodhi Course by Gary Player Design two years ago, Viraj Madappa has won the only professional event held at the historic venue, the Tata Steel PGTI MP Cup last October.

Other young stars to watch out for include Sandhu, the PGTI Order of Merit leader Kshitij Naveed Kaul who won the Chattogram Open two weeks ago, Karandeep Kochhar and Chikkarangappa S.

The overseas contingent includes the 2019 Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship winner Rory Hie of Indonesia.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)