Julian Suri, an American golfer of Indian origin, currently ranked 70th in the world on Tuesday confirmed that he will be teeing off at the Hero Indian Open.
It will be his second appearance at the Hero Indian Open. He first played it in 2013, when he had just turned pro and he missed the cut.
In the time since, he has matured into a fine golfer who commands a lot of attention.
The 26-year-old Floridian caught the attention of golf fans around the world with his incredible rise in 2017. He was one of the biggest movers on the Official World Golf Rankings.
Suri rose from 1137 at the end of 2016 to 63rd at the end of 2017. A year before that he was 1711 in world rankings at the end of 2016.
This rise of over 1500 places in two years and over 1000 places in 2017 alone made him the golfer to watch.
During this period he also won a title each on the European Challenge Tour (2017 D+D Real Czech Challenge) and on the European Tour (2017 Made in Denmark).
That has now given him an exempt status on the European Tour.
The six-foot-one golfer has had some excellent results of late. In late 2017 after his break through win in Denmark, he was T-8 in three events – Valderrama Masters, Turkish Airlines Open and the season-ending DP World Tour Championships.
His rise in world rankings has also opened the doors to the US PGA Tour, where he earned himself three starts at the start of 2018 and made the cut in two of them as he began to find his feet there.
Suri, whose ancestors hail from Andhra, has a very interesting Indian connection.