Singapore: The best players from the Asian Tour including all four past and present Order of Merit champions will head to the Lion City for the US$6 million Barclays Singapore Open next week.
 
The Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course will play host to a glittering of star players who include world number one Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Adam Scott of Australia, a three-time winner of the tournament, four-time Major winner Phil Mickelson and no fewer than 46 Asian Tour winners from November 8-11.
 
Filipino Juvic Pagunsan, the 2011 Asian Tour number one, will be looking for redemption as he seeks to avenge last year’s heartbreaking play-off loss to Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
 
Pagunsan earned some measure of consolation as his runner-up finish propelled him to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit which he subsequently went on to win, making him the first Filipino to achieve the feat.
 
Having based himself in Japan for most of the year, the Filipino has been enjoying a good run of form of late by making seven consecutive cuts including finishing tied fourth at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open and second at the Japan Open.
 
Following wins in Europe this season, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh will return to familiar ground in Asia to extend their proud record where they have won 13 and six times respectively.
 
Thongchai, who is the top earner on the Asian Tour with over US$4 million in his career, had his playing schedule hindered by a series of injuries this season.
 
However, the Thai, who is the only player to win three Asian Tour Order of Merit titles, showed why he is still highly regarded as one of Asia’s best when he won his first title on European soil in Wales in June.
 
Singh, Asia’s number one in 2006 and 2008, also had a standout performance in Europe where he won in Scotland in July.
 
The decorated Indian star, who has long been a role model to the younger generation of talented Indian players that include Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri,  was victorious in the 2008 edition of the Barclays Singapore Open and be seeking to repeat that winning performance at Sentosa.
 
A return to Singapore would provide the impetus for Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, a two-time Asian Tour winner, to end his two-year winless drought.
 
The stylist Swede, who finished tied-third against an equally star-studded field at the Barclays Singapore Open in 2010, will be hoping to get back to his winning ways since landing two prized Tour titles in India during his rookie year in 2010.
 
Other Asian Tour stars to look out for include Thailand’s Prom Meesawat and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, Bangladesh’s Siddikur and Singapore’s hopefuls Mardan Mamat and Lam Chih Bing.
 
This year marks the 49th staging of the Singapore Open which will be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

By Indian Sports News Network