LPGA star and World Cup winner Celeste Troche of Paraguay and India's own Smriti Mehra, a long-time LPGA regular, headline a star-studded field at the DLF Women's Indian Open, now in its second year.

The tournament has attracted some of the best young talent from across Ladies Asian Golf Tour for the event at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

One of the stars is Australia's Sunny Park who turned professional won Australian Women's Amateur Open last year. Park started 2008 with a big bang as she captured the Australian Ladies Professional Golf-sanctioned Kangaroo Valley Peugeot Classic to register her first win as a professional.

While Celeste, two-time runner-up on Futures Tour, is a World Cup winner, there are a host of other players, who made an appearance at the 2007 and 2008 World Cup in South Africa.

Brazilian Iida Maria Priscila played the World cup player in 2007, while China's Wang Chun represented her country in 2008.

India's representatives were Smriti Mehra and Irina Brar, who will head the Indian challenge.

Japan has one of the strongest contingents at the DLF Women's Indian Open with nine players. Shiraki Rie, a champion at the 2007 Guam Governer's Cup in USA Guam, and Sakurai Yuki, a rookie who was in 5th of 2008 MFS Womens Australian Open held in January, are the pick of the lot.

Thailand's prodigious talent Phatlum Pornanong, who won this year's first event on the LAGT, The Thailand Open 2008, has also confirmed for the field. Phatlum had announced her arrival with a win while still being an amateur at the 2006 LAGT Hong Kong Open.

Celeste is no stranger to India. She came to India three years ago in October 2005 for the WGAI Skins event, the first-ever Ladies professional event in India. Playing alongside here was Smriti Mehra.

Smriti Mehra Guffin created history by clinching the first-ever women's professional event in the country — the Hero Honda Skins — played at the par-72 DLF Golf and Country Club last year. With a tally of seven skins, Smriti won the title and a prize purse of $ 7,650. Despite winning as many skins as Smriti, Heather Daly Donofrio, President Tour Player, USLPGA, finished second to take home $ 4,700.

In fact, Celeste finished third in the event. More than anything else, she captivated the media and spectators with her charming smile and great enthusiasm. She beat 2003 US Open champion Hilary Lunke in a play-off for third after Smriti and Heather Daly Donofrio were first and second.

While Smriti Mehra has been the player helping the Tour grow, others like Irina Brar, who represented India at the World Cup alongside Smriti, have also been a huge success. The fact that India were invited for the World Cup was proof that Indian women have been noticed internationally in a sport that was hardly popular in India two seasons ago.

Other Indian women pros in the field will be Shalini Malik, Sanniya Sharma, Nalini Singh, Nonita Lall Qureshi, Seema Sobti, Pallavi Jain, Preet inder Kaur and Vandana Aggarwal among others.

Among the amateur challengers will be the teen brigade, Tanya Wadhwa (16), Sharmila Nicollet (16), Meher Atwal (13) and Neha Tripathi.

The DLF Women's Indian Open has grown in stature as one of the premier events on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT). Carrying a purse of US $ 120,000, it attracts the best from Asia.

To put the purse in perspective, the men's Indian Open did not exceed a purse of US $ 120,000 for almost two decades, but the women's Indian Open has touched it in its second year. Even as the domestic Tour is taking baby steps, International Women's Golf too has arrived into India.

The growing interest was seen amply when the Ladies European Tour chose India as its venue for the Indian Masters in Bangalore. And now the same can be seen in US $ 120,000 DLF Women's Indian Open.

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