Shubhankar Sharma, Anirban Lahiri to take part in Hero Indian Open golf

Gurugram: Rising Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma will join the likes of Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur in a star-studded field for the Hero Indian Open starting here on March 8.

Shubhankar, who won the Joburg Open and the Malaysian Championships recently, will have Indians like Gaganjeet Bhullar, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Siddikur Rahman for company.

The field includes stars from 31 countries and has amongst them six from the World's Top-100 along with a plethora of Order of Merit winners, past champions, Ryder Cup captains and a Major champion.

One of the biggest draws in the event is Emiliano Grillo of Argentina who is coming fresh off a Top-10 finish last week on the PGA Tour.

Grillo, who was in Top-20 of three of the four Majors in 2016, is looking very strong once again in 2018. In the current wrap-around season, he already has two Top-10s on the PGA Tour, besides another T-12 in Mexico.

The tournament will also see the participation of the men in form on the European Tour, Joost Luiten, winner of the NBO Oman Open, Chris Wood, who was second at the Oman event and T-13 in Qatar Masters, alongside England's ever-smiling and hugely popular, Andrew Johnston, T-12 in Oman.

"I have heard so much about India and Indian golf that I can't wait to get there,"said Johnston.

"I simply love Indian food and Shiv Kapur has promised to take me out for an Indian meal and I am looking forward to that. As for golf, Indians like SSP and Shubhankar are doing so well, so it will be great to play in India," he added.

The field also boasts of two Ryder Cup captains of Europe, Darren Clarke - the 2011 Open winner and winner of two other WGC events, and Thomas Bjorn - winner of 21 titles and a former Top-10 world ranked player.