It’s the domestic tour’s flagship tournament but the 2009 BILT Open will tee off at the Jaypee Greens Golf Resort on Thursday with some of the biggest names in Indian golf giving it a miss.

Jeev Milkha Singh, defending champion Jyoti Randhawa, Gaganjeet Bhullar and C Muniyappa are in Shanghai to participate in the $7m World Golf Championship, as the richest event in Asia coincides with that on the PGTI (BILT Open carries a prize purse of Rs 1 crore, up from Rs 80 lakh last year). However, the competition is still expected to be fierce, with the likes of Anirban Lahiri, Himmat Singh Rai, Asian tour veteran Gaurav Ghei and SSP Chowrasia in the field.

It has been a year of reckoning for 22-year-old Lahiri. Not only has the Bangalore lad been consistent on the Asian Tour, he also notched up his first professional win on the domestic tour in September. He finished second here last year, and is looking to go the distance this time. “My familiarity with the course is obviously an advantage for me. I know the course well and expect a good finish this year as well,” Lahiri said.

Rai is coming off an impressive outing in Asia and a pat on the back from top Korean pro KJ Choi. Among those to watch out for is the perennial favourite on the domestic tour, Mukesh Kumar, who has won four times this season. As Rai summed it up: “if you ask me the field isn’t weak. You have Anirban, Digivijay, Gaurav, SSP, which makes it quite competitive.”