Keep Walking, Johnnie Walker comes to town

GURGAON, February 28: The lush greens of the best golf course in the sub-continent, DLF Golf and Country Club sprung to life on Thursday morning with the teeing off of Asia's longest running luxury golf tournament, the Johnnie Walker Classic.
India play host to the $2.5 million Johnnie Walker Classic for the first time and becomes the seventh nation to stage the event since its inception in 1992.The other six previous hosts are: Australia, China, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
The tournament attracts one of the best fields of players assembled in the Asia Pacific region.
Recently-crowned Indian Masters champion SSP Chowrasia and European and Asian Tours regulars, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa are spearheading the local challenge for the top honours alongside Gaurav Ghei, Shiv Kapur and Arjun Atwal.
Joining them are Ashok Kumar, Rahul Ganapathy, Mukesh Kumar, Harmeet Kahlon, Digvijay Singh, Gaganjeet Bhullar, C Muniyappa, Shamim Khan, Vijay Kumar, Arjun Singh and Rahil Gangjee, who was the lucky recipient of a sponsor's invite from Johnnie Walker.
The local pros are lined up at Asia Pacific's premier luxury golf event to compete against a host of international stars including world number five, Adam Scott of Australia, world number ten, Vijay Singh, England's Ian Poulter and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland.
There will be stiff competition from some of Asia's best golfers too. The Indian golfers will not just have to walk through a stiff challenge but rise up to the occasion to win the first Johnnie Walker Classic.
The Asian golfers are spearheaded by Asia's number one Liang Wen-chong of China, top Thais Thongchai Jaidee, Chapchai Nirat and Prayad Marksaeng and Lee Sung of Korea, who all are looking to secure the Johnnie Walker Classic trophy, a first prize of over $400,000 and an exemption on the lucrative European Tour.
A total of 132 golfers including these star golfers teed off in a beautiful bright sunshine morning for the second European tour event in India within a month (after Emaar-MGF Indian Open) on Thursday.
The Johnnie Walker Global Brand Director Ben Anderson said, "The tournament's a platform to promote the philosophy that lies at the heart of the Johnnie Walker brand: KEEP WALKING."
"The philosophy is about inspiring personal progress, inspiring people to take the next step on their journey towards their goal. We hope that the tournament inspires people to follow their dreams," said Anderson.