Fresh from his win at the Indonesia Open, Gaganjeet Bhullar will bring in the spunk among five sponsor invitees who will battle it out with top 60 players in the PGTI Order of Merit in its year-ending McLeod Russell Tour Championship beginning at the RCGC tomorrow.
The five professionals playing on sponsor invites also include defending champion SSP Chowrasia, Anirban Lahiri, Jyoti Randhawa and Rahil Gangjee.
Boasting a prize purse of Rs 1.35 crore, the highest-ever for a domestic event in India, the tournament will give the top 60 in PGTI's Rolex rankings an opportunity to end the season on a high.
Currently, Delhi lad Rashid Khan with an earning of Rs 41,80,634 leads the Rolex Rankings, followed by S Chikkarangappa (Rs 29.79 lakh), Shamim Khan (Rs 23.99 lakh), Angad Cheema (Rs 23.64 lakh), Mukesh Kumar (Rs 21.26 lakh) as the top five have a fair chance to win the Order of Merit.
Shamim Khan won the 2012 Rolex Rankings, while in 2011 it was won by Chiragh Kumar.
"This is is of the biggest tournament in the PGTI Calendar Year, you have to respect that. At the end of the year, ultimately it comes down to this tournament. It's a great opportunity for the top six to win the order of merit," Bhullar said.
Taking form into consideration, Bhullar along with Anirban Lahiri, the fourth and fifth in the Asian Order of Merit, start favourite while defending champion Chowrasia has also prepared well for the tournament.
"I had taken a week's break to prepare myself for this tournament. I'm happy with my preparation, let's see. But the field is very strong. It can be anybody's title. The golf course is playing very well."
There are eight foreign players in the field and the prominent names among them are Mohammad Zamal Hossain Mollah (Bangladesh), N Thangaraja (Sri Lanka), Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka), Shivaram Shrestha (Nepal) and Kunal Bhasin (Australia).
The eight Kolkata-based professionals in the fray are Chowrasia, Rahil Gangjee, Shankar Das, Feroz Ali Mollah, Divyanshu Bajaj, Rafick Ali Mollah, Raju Ali Mollah and Mohammad Sanju.
