New Delhi, India, March 26: India’s Shiv Kapur will be counting on home advantage to steer him to a win at his National Open when he tees off for the Hero Indian Open on Thursday.

The 37-year-old Kapur has been suffering a dip in form where he has missed two cuts in his last four starts. However, he remains optimistic that the US$1.75million event will be his springboard to success.

Kapur still remembers fondly how he used to carry the score boards for Asian Tour veterans, Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh when he was still a kid.

Like how he used to admire their lofty positions on the leaderboard then, Kapur now a four-time Asian Tour winner, hopes he can see his name in that same position when the Hero Indian Open gets underway.

Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, coming off two top-five finishes in a row, will be riding on his superb form ahead of the event which enters its 55^th edition on the Asian Tour this week.

The 23-year-old Thai has mapped out a more conservative strategy in his attempt to fulfill his personal goal of making the cut at the Hero Indian Open.

Kapur and Jazz will have their title ambitions put to the test by Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, South Africa’s Brandon Stone and England’s Aaron Rai, a recent winner in Hong Kong last November.

Did you know?

• Shiv Kapur ended an 11-year title drought when he won the Yeangder Heritage in Chinese Taipei in 2017. He went on to win two more titles, including the Panasonic Open India, and became the only player to win three tournaments that season.
• His win at the Panasonic Open India was his first and only Asian Tour win on home soil so far.
• Kapur’s best finish at his country’s National Open was a tied-third result in 2010. He will be aiming to make the weekend rounds for the first time since the event was moved to the DLF Golf and Country Club in 2017.
• Kapur enjoyed four top-10 finishes in 2018, including a joint runner-up finish at the Royal Cup in July.
• He went to Purdue University and played in United States on the college circuit and he still regards his individual gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games as  his biggest win of his amateur career.
• Jazz Janewattananond broke into the world’s top-100 for the first time in his career after claiming his third Asian Tour title at the season-opening event in Singapore in January.
• Since then the Thai has not finished outside the top-10 and he will be the highest-ranked player this week at 71^st place on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
• The Thai’s best finish at the Indian Open is a tied-15^th result and he will be aiming for his first top-10 finish this week in his seventh appearance at the prestigious event.
• Bernd Wiesberger’s last win came at the Shenzhen International in China in 2017 which was also his fourth European Tour victory.
• Brandon Stone is a three-time European Tour winner and a Rolex Series winner. He enjoyed his highest finish of 25^th place on the Race to Dubai rankings last season.
• Aaron Rai claimed his first Asian Tour and European Tour title at the HONMA Hong Kong Open in November last year.
• The Englishman, who is of Indian heritage, has been wearing gloves on both hands to play since he was eight years old. He also uses iron covers for all of his eight irons.

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