Bhullar, Kapur to fight for a berth in The Open next week

Kuala Lumpur: Rising golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar and three other Indians will be fighting for a berth

in the Open Championships when they tee up at the Open Championship International Final Qualifying Asia next week. There are four berths at stake at the two-day qualifier at Amata Spring Country Club in Bangkok on February 24-25, 2011 and beside Bhullar, Shiv Kapur, Anirban Lahiri and Himmat Rai will be part of the field of 77 players. Home heroes Thaworn Wiratchant and Prayad Marksaeng, who hold a combined 19 Asian Tour titles between them, will also be seen in action at the qualifier. Liang Wen-chong, China`s first Asian Tour Order of Merit champion in 2007, will bid for a second appearance in the world`s oldest Major and will be joined by top contenders including Pariya Junhasavasdikul and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand, Bangladeshi Siddikur and Singaporean veteran Mardan Mamat, all top-10 finishers on the Order of Merit last season. There will be as many as 25 Tour winners at the IFQ Asia to gain a place at Royal St George`s, England from July 14-17. Both Kapur and Bhullar, have previously played in the Open. The same goes for Australia`s Scott Hend and Darren Beck and England`s Miles Tunnicliff, a winner on the European Tour. Malaysia`s Danny Chia, who made history when he qualified and subsequently played four rounds at the Open at St Andrews last year, will also bid for a fourth appearance in the championship. Japanese amateur Hideki Matsuyama, who won the Asian Amateur Championship on home soil last year, will also be in the qualifier where he hopes to emulate Korea`s amateur Eric Chun, who qualified last year in Malaysia. This is the first time that the IFQ Asia is being held in Thailand after previously be staged in Malaysia and Singapore. PTI