Chonburi (Thailand), Nov 18 (IANS): The Thailand Golf Championship will take centrestage Dec 12-15 as some of the world’s best players will gather at the Amata Spring Country Club here.

Inaugurated in 2011, the championship has already established itself as one of Asia’s prominent tournaments which is becoming popular for the players to attend.

Amata Spring Country Club, which was voted as the No.1 course on the Asian Tour in 2011 and 2012 by its players, has welcomed some of the most recognisable faces as they come to compete here. Noted past participants include Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Darren Clarke, Hunter Mahan, John Daly and Ryo Ishikawa.

Englishman Westwood came through as the first winner in 2011 while last year Schwartzel of South Africa improved on his second place finish the year before and wowed the crowd in a bogey-free total 263, 11 shots ahead of his nearest challenger.

The field will be led by man-of-the-moment Henrik Stenson, who made history Sunday in becoming the first man to win both the Race to Dubai and the FedEx Cup in a most remarkable season.

Other confirmed first time participants include reigning US Open winner Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Spanish Sergio Garcia and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.