Reigning Indian Open champion and four-time European Tour winner Shiv Sankar Prasad Chawrasia has added his name to a strong Asian challenge for the 2017 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at The Heritage Golf Club at Heritage Resorts this November.

Chawrasia joins another Asian Tour star, Scott Hend, in a field that also includes 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, multiple European Tour winners Brandon Stone and George Coetzee, and rising French professional Romain Langasque.

Currently ranked fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, Chawrasia represented India in the 2016 Olympic Men’s Golf Competition and has an incredible record in his national Open, including finishing second in a playoff in 2015 and then winning back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. He is only the third golfer in history to successfully defend the Indian Open.

He made European Tour history in 2008 when he became the first player to win on debut in the Indian Masters, and was the third Indian golfer to win on the European Tour.

This year, Chawrasia was also a recipient of India’s prestigious Arjuna Award in recognition of his performances on the international stage over the past decade.

As the son of the greenkeeper at Calcutta Golf Club, Chawrasia started out as a caddie before becoming a fulltime professional who now plays on both the Asian Tour and European Tour.

His presence in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open again highlights the diversity of the field for a tournament tri-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour.

This year the tournament field has been expanded to include 156 professionals competing for the €1 million in prize money.