Monday 16 February 2015 20:45, UK
David John picks the promising Kevin Phelan to make an impact this week in the Hero Indian Open at Delhi Golf Club.
The European Tour's three-week stint in Asia comes to a conclusion at the Hero Indian Open and the examination that players face at the Delhi Golf Club will differ greatly to the one set in the True Thailand Classic.
While little rough at Black Mountain gave the wayward from the tee a big chance, the much tighter driving areas will favour those able to hit their spots with the fairways relentlessly lined by trees.
India returns to the rotation on the European Tour for the first time since the 2013 Avantha Masters but there is plenty of course form to delve into with this wonderful, traditional venue used on numerous occasions lately by the Asian Tour.
It is obvious that a number of names keep popping up after sifting through the evidence and it would be remiss of me to desert last week's tip Rashid Khan despite a missed cut in Thailand. Competing in a co-sanctioned event at the course where he grew up and caddied at provides him with the potential for wrapping up a very good week.
He had already put together couple of extremely good efforts at this course (beaten on one occasion in a play-off by Anirban Lahiri) before making the breakthrough 12 months ago in the SAIL-SBI Open with a sudden-death success over Siddikur.
Khan went on to claim a second title in 2014 at the Chiangmai Golf Classic and, while this is a step up again and he has yet to make an impact in events when the European Tour players are involved, this is a pretty weak field to compete against and his local knowledge looks an important factor.
Star quality
Lahiri is the obvious market leader on home soil after his victory in Malaysia while an evergreen Miguel Angel Jimenez adds a touch of star quality and was not a million miles away in Thailand despite a frustrating final round where nothing really seemed to click.
I also think there is plenty more to come from Ireland's Kevin Phelan despite the fact he is only in the field this week via an invitation as he lost his card in 2014 despite a fine last-ditch attempt to keep it with a gutsy solo third in Hong Kong.
With his starts limited so far, he has just one to date in 2015 when he finished T33 at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, it is going to be a case of making the most of his opportunities unless he can make a splash early on.
Phelan still has much to prove but his performance in Hong Kong puts him in with a decent shout in this company while the fact he has proven he can drive the ball accurately will help his cause no end around here. He finished T5 over one round in a very minor event in Florida a few days ago and that at least shows some semblence that his game is thereabouts.
A final pick this week in a heat that gets trappier the more I look at it is Spain's Adrian Otaegui. He, like Phelan, headed back to the Qualifying School at the end of last year but emerged in fifth place and has a full 12 months on tour in 2015 to get himself established.
He has played three times so far, improved on each occasion while his T25 in Thailand with four rounds under par does not read too badly and suggests he could be rolling into a bit of form.
There has to be a little bit of faith placed in how he and Phelan settle in on their debuts in Delhi but he is another player who can be relied on to consistently find the fairway from the tee and should have an opportunity to plot his way around.
