Thailand’s Ekpharit Wu comes into the inaugural $500,000 Bharath Classic Gujarat at the Kensville resort near Ahmedabad with a recent Asian Tour win in Taiwan behind him. Image courtesy Asian Tour.
By Rahul Banerji
Ahmedabad: The Asian Tour returns to India this week for the first since after 2023 in the form of the inaugural $500,000 Bharath Classic Gujarat at the Kensville Golf Resort near here from Thursday.
A field of 120 will contest the event co-sanctioned with the recently-launched Indian Golf Premier League with as many as 60 Indians in the field of 120. The top 65 and ties will make the 36-hole cut.
The tournament makes for a return to a country that has a strong affinity with the Asian Tour, for which this is the season’s penultimate event.
The 18-hole par-72 Kensville Golf Resort is a 900-acre property located some 40 km from Ahmedabad and was designed by one of India’s greatest golfers, Jeev Milkha Singh.
At the top of the field is Thailand’s Janewattananond, currently ranked 14th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit after a T2 at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May and three other top-10s.
The charismatic Thai topped the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2019 after winning four events that season and has won seven times in all, most recently the International Series Morocco in 2022.
Multiple winner
Leading the Indian charge will be PGTI Ranking leader Yuvraj Sandhu, who has as many as five wins this season including last week at the IndianOil Servo Masters in Digboi, Assam.
In addition, he has 11 top-ten finishes this year, and also has numbers two and three on the PGTI money list for company at Kensville in the form of Shaurya Bhattacharya and Arjun Prasad.
For the first two rounds, Sandhu will line up alongside another Asian Tour winner in India, Nitithorn Thippong, and England’s Steve Lewton.
Others to watch for are Ekpharit Wu of Thailand, winner of the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open, his first Asian Tour title, and James Piot of the US who was part of LIV Golf in 2022 and 2023.
Interestingly, the field includes three past winners of the Hero Indian Open, Indians C. Muniyappa (2009) and S.S.P. Chawrasia (2016, 2017) besides Siddikur Rahman (2013) of Bangladesh.
What gives this event an extra twist is the battle for many in the field who are out to save their playing status on the Asian Tour, which only has the season-ending Saudi Open next onth to go.
Also read: Sandhu coasts to thumping victory and a third Servo Masters title
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