It has been reported that Shiv Kapur will lead a group of 6 Indians, which includes Jyoti Randhawa apart from three-time Asian Tour winner Anirban Lahiri at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open. The tournament will tee off at the Ibaraki Country Club in Japan on Thursday.
Besides Kapur, Randhawa, Lahiri, the other Indians who are participating in the field are C. Muniyappa, Himmat Rai and Digvijay Singh. All of them have one Asian Tour victory each against their names. Interestingly, Digvijay won the Panasonic Open India in 2012, while Anirban Lahiri won the same title in 2011.
Apart from the title at the Yen 150 million (approx. $1.48 million), the players will be struggling for a place in the top-10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit too. Remarkably, the top-10 as on 7th October will get an opportunity to qualify for the CIMB Classic in Malaysia-an event that is jointly sanctioned by the Asian plus US PGA Tours.
At present, there are 3 Indians, Gaganjeet Bhullar (second), Lahiri (seventh) along with Kapur (ninth) on the Order of Merit. Particularly, Bhullar is not playing in Japan this week. He has chosen to participate at the Dunhill Championships at Scotland on European Tour. Additionally, the top-two on Order of Merit will qualify for the $8 million WGC-HSBC Champions event in China.
Moreover, budding star Lahiri, who is a 3-time Asian Tour winner, will certainly not have any injury doubts although he has still to recover from a knee injury completely. In fact, it will be a outstanding week for Lahiri, as a victory will surely put him in firm position to qualify for the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in China.
