Luiten, Fraser add to strong Indian Open field

08 Mar, 2016

NEW DELHI: Top golfers Marcus Fraser, Joost Luiten and George Coetzee have been added to a strong field at the 52nd Hero Indian Open 2016, which starts this month.

The trio will join the list of six golfers in the top-100 ranking with defending champion Anirban Lahiri at 50th in the world chart.

Australia's Fraser is ranked 63rd, Dutchman Luiten stands at the 77th spot and Coetzee from South Africa sits at the 78th position in the world rankings.

Tommy Fleetwood (England) at 81st and Marc Warren (Scotland) at 87th are the others in the top 100. Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington of Ireland is the star attraction at the event.

The strength of the field and presence of so many top-100 players will also mean more world ranking points.

These are essential for players to qualify for this summer's Rio Olympics, where golf will make a return after 108 years.

The field has a host of other past winners, including Siddikur Rahman (Bangladesh), Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand), Mardan Mamat (Singapore) and Arjun Atwal (India).

The annual event is scheduled to run from March 17-20 at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi.

The event, sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour for the second straight year, will carry an enhanced prize purse of $1.66 million.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016

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