Wednesday 18 February 2015 13:00, UK
Home favourite Anirban Lahiri hopes to fulfill a childhood ambition this week by winning the Hero Indian Open.
This year marks the first time the event is co-sanctioned with the European Tour, having previously only featured on the Asian Tour.
Lahiri is the highest ranked player in the field at Delhi Golf Club, with the Malaysian Open winner having stormed into the world's top 50 after an impressive start to his rookie season.
The 27-year-old regularly watched the tournament as a child and is keen to add a second European Tour title on home soil this week.
“This is the event you want to win as an Indian,” the world No 39 said. “The Indian Open is a tournament which is steep in history and Delhi Golf Club has such a fantastic history to it.
“We have had four Asian Tour members win the last four co-sanctioned events. It will be nice to continue that streak.
“It is nice to have so many of our members winning events but I would like to say that I want an Indian to keep this trophy on home soil.”
Lahri will tee-off in a group alongside last week's True Thailand Classic runner-up Scott Hend and tour veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, who continues to put in strong performances and is in contention to break his own record as the oldest winner on the European Tour.
Shiv Kapur also features and is set to be backed by a strong support at his home golf course as he searches for a maiden European Tour triumph, with the 33-year-old keen to build on last week's tied-11th finish in Thailand.
"It’s my sixth week in a row playing, so I’ll be battling a bit of fatigue, but it’s nice to be coming off a good finish," he added.
“I probably won’t need to play a practice round because it’s my home club. I’ll be playing the course I’ve played nearly every day of my life since I learned to play golf.”
Watch all four days of the Hero Indian Open live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf
