In-form golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won twice late last year and started well at the season-opener last week, will lead a strong contingent of 10 Indians at the USD 750,000 Leopalace21 Myanmar Open, which starts here tomorrow.
Bhullar, who won the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea in October and then the Indonesian Masters in November, was tied 18th after being among the contenders for first two days.
He has been steadily coming back to form as the rhythm, that made him one of India's best prospects some years back, makes a welcome return.
Bhullar, who had dropped to 674th in September last year, has risen to 158th and is now the second highest ranked Indian after Anirban Lahiri (83rd).
A few more good results in co-sanctioned events could see Bhullar crack top 100, where he last found himself in latter stages of 2012 and early period in 2013.
The next few weeks during which Bhullar plays a lot of big events including Hero Indian Open could well see the 28-year-old Indian make a bid for top 100 or better.
On current form, he would be a fair bet to do so.
Other Indians in the field at Yangon this week are Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur, Mukesh Kumar, Rashid Khan, Chiragh Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, S Chikkarangappa and Shubhankar Sharma.
Mukesh makes his first appearance outside India after his success at the Panasonic Open India in December, 2016 while Chikka and Shubhankar, who have been knocking on the doors of a victory could find the breakthrough any week.
Meanwhile, experienced Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur are hoping to get back to the kind of form that once made them top stars in India as Rashid Khan and Rahil Gangjee will also be looking at making these early starts in 2017 count.
Thai teenager Phachara Khongwatmai, who qualified for The Open for the second straight year through the Qualifying Series in Singapore last week, will be among the elite field contending for the prestigious title at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club.
In his last six tournaments, Phachara has finished inside the top five on four occasions.
After finishing second to Prayad Marksaeng at the SMBC Singapore Open last week, Phachara plans to keep things simple and not give himself unnecessary pressure at the event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
The man of the moment Prayad, who won his 10th Asian Tour title at the age 50, will be aiming for back-to-back victories.
He finished runners up to Tetsuji Hiratsuka of Japan at the Myanmar Open at the same venue in 2010.
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