Vani Kapoor, who finished a career-best tied-sixth in the previous edition, will be leading the Indian challenge at the Hero Women's Indian Open golf meet, which has a record prize purse of $500,000, a 25 per cent hike over the last year's offer.
Amongst other top Indians is the current Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit leader Tvesa Malik, along with Amandeep Drall, and Gursimar Badwal who will fight for the top honours in the 12th edition of the meet, being held from October 18-21.
To tee off at the Gary Player layout of the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurugram, the tournament will witness the defending champion Camille Chevalier of France trying to extend her hold over the trophy outwitting a strong field of international players like former champion Swedish Caroline Hedwall, Beth Allen, Thailand's Kanyalak Preedasuttjit and Celine Boutier.
For the first time, the tournament will be contested over 72 holes. It will be telecast live on all the four days.
Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hero MotoCorp Pawan Munjal said: "As a long-term sponsor of Golf across the world, it gives me great joy and satisfaction to see this sport take giant strides in India. The Hero Women's Indian Open has evolved into a sought-after event over the past decade and still continues to grow stronger with each passing year.
The President of WGAI Kavita Singh said: "The Women's Golf Association of India, with the support of our title sponsor, Hero MotoCorp, is proud to stage the 12th edition of the Hero Women's Indian Open.
"This year will see an increase in prize money to $500,000 and also see the tournament being telecast Live for the first time. This will no doubt showcase the growing strength of Indian women's professional golf to a worldwide audience."