Shenzhen:
Confident of a strong showing, seasoned Indian pros Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa are all set to team up for the second time at the prestigious World Cup of golf starting on Thursday at the Mission Hills Club here.
Jeev, currently placed 57th in the world, earned the direct berth for India by virtue of his ranking and has picked Randhawa as his partner. The duo had finished tied 17th in the last edition.
This is the fourth occasion that India has earned a direct qualification for the World Cup finals.
India had earlier earned direct qualification for the event in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
In the year 2005, the Indians had put up their best performance at the event when Randhawa and Arjun Atwal finished a creditable ninth.
Jeev, who has been consistent through the season with a fourth place at the WGC-CA Championship and tied fifth and sixth finishes at The European Open and The Celtic Manor Wales Open respectively, will make his second appearance at the mega-event.
He also posted a tied seventh at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in the United States and was recently tied 13th at the Dubai World Championship. The Chandigarh golfer finished 34th in the European Tour Race to Dubai rankings for 2009.
"I am excited to represent India once again at the World Cup. I'm looking forward to a good week this time around. Jyoti has performed reasonably well this year, having won a title earlier in the season. I'm positive that we will put up a good team effort this week," he said.
Randhawa, on the other hand, won the Singha Thailand Open earlier this year and was also the joint runner-up at the Maybank Malaysian Open.
His other good finishes came at the Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open and the WGC-HSBC Champions where he finished tied seventh and tied 19th respectively. He is currently placed fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
"It is always a matter of honour and pride to be playing for the country. Jeev and I make a good team. I believe, if we play up to our potential, we have a great chance this year," said Randhawa, who makes his fourth appearance at the World Cup this year.
The Indian team will compete against 27 other teams from around the world.