Daly, Hamilton star draws at Avantha Masters

Two-time Major winner John Daly and former British Open champion Todd Hamilton head a strong field in the $2.4 million Avantha Masters in Gurgaon from Thursday. India's richest golf event, tri-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) will be played at the DLF Country Club on the outskirts of New Delhi. The irrepressible Daly has already created a flutter on his first visit to India by tweeting his initial impressions of the country and problems in securing a visa. "So grossed out, I washed my comforter in the washer," Daly wrote about his Gurgaon hotel on the micro-blogging site. "Was listed as a 5-star suites. By who?" On his visa experience, Daly wrote: "Not sure what took longer, the gazillion documents filling out to get a visa or the flight over here (from Dubai)." Leading the challenge for the host nation will be defending champion Shiv Chowrasia, two-time Asian Order of Merit winner Jeev Milkha Singh, and young guns Rahil Gangjee and Shiv Kapur. Other leading contenders include former world number one amateur Peter Uihlein of the United States, Singapore's Mardan Mamat, who won the Philippine Open last week and Thai veteran Thongchai Jaidee. Daly has been drawn with Thongchai and Jeev in the first round, setting the stage for an absorbing spectacle for fans at the par-72 Arnold Palmer-designed course. Thongchai, 42, a three-time winner of the Asian Order of Merit, returns to the circuit after an injury-plagued 2011 when he failed to add to his 13 Asian Tour titles. The Thai star is upbeat about the new season and believes he can reignite his form playing against a good field. "My fitness level is about 85 to 90 percent now as I?ve been putting in more hours in the gym and that has helped," said Thongchai. "One of the positive aspects of my game is that I?m never worried. I?m happy with my golf and I enjoy my life. That?s kept me going all these years." Jeev, son of legendary Indian sprinter Milkha Singh, hopes to return to winning ways despite picking up a bout of flu from his son ahead of the tournament. "Beware of the sick golfer," the 188th-ranked Jeev joked, saying his goal was to return to the top 100 after securing a ranking of 35 in 2008. "I have no complaints with my ball-striking but ultimately all that matters is how you perform on the greens. I have to tidy up my short game." Asian Tour golfers will look to retain the Avantha title after Australian Andrew Dodt took the inaugural event in 2010 and local caddie-turned-golfer Chowrasia won last year.