Asia's best golfers up for SMBC Open challenge

It will be far from a walk in the park when four-time Major winner Ernie Els, three-time Singapore Open champion Adam Scott and Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia tee off at the SMBC Singapore Open 2017 later this month.

A host of Asian golfers will be out to steal their thunder at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong course at the US$1 million (S$1.4m) event from Jan 19 to 22.

Five Asian Tour Order of Merit champions will be joined by 35 winners from the Tour, who will be gunning to lift the prestigious trophy.

Also out to make an impact are rising stars such as Spain's Carlos Pigem and Thailand's Pavit Tangkamolprasert, after both achieved breakthroughs in last season's Asian Tour.

Pavit, who finished a career-best 10th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit last season, is relishing his opportunity to play in the Singapore Open for the second time since he turned professional 10 years ago.

"The 2007 Singapore Open was the first professional tournament that I played outside of Thailand and I made the halfway cut. It has really been a long time since then and I am looking forward to playing in this iconic event again," said the 27-year-old Pavit.

South Korean Song Young Han will return to defend his title after beating former world No. 1, American Jordan Spieth, last year.

The local challenge will be spearheaded by the Republic's top-ranked golfer Mardan Mamat, a five-time Asian Tour Winner.

Joining him will be Quincy Quek, Koh Dengshan, Marc Kawasoe, Mitchell Slorach, Johnson Poh and Lam Chih Bing.

Since the SMBC Singapore Open is part of the British Open Qualifying Series for 2017, the leading two non-exempt players who make it to the top 10 and ties, will automatically secure a spot at the 146th Open at Royal Birkdale from July 16 to 23.

For ticketing details, visit http://www.smbcsingaporeopen.com/.