Indian golf received a major boost as it qualified for the World Cup of Golf directly for the first time.

Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal, both former Asian Number ones, created history by earning a direct spot for India in the World Cup, which is part of the World Golf championships series.

The USD 4 million event featuring two-man teams from 24 nations around the world will be held November 15-20 at Victoria Clube de Golfe-Vilamoura in the Algarve region of Portugal.

India was originally slated to take part in the qualifiers with Amandeep Johl and Arjun Singh [Images] as the representatives.

However on September 19, the last date for direct qualifiers to be decided, Jyoti Randhawa figured among the top-18 available players by nationalities. The highest ranked player is then allowed to choose his partner. Randhawa and Atwal have confirmed their participation.

In the past India has qualified for World Cup by winning one of the qualifying spots in the Nations Cup. The last time was in 2003, when Gaurav Ghei and Digvijay Singh made it to the World Cup in Kiawah Island.

For both Randhawa and Atwal, the World Cup will be a big feather in their cup, as neither have played in it before. By the time the year ends, Randhawa, the Asian Tour No. 1 in 2002, would have played in three of the World Golf Championship events.

He has already played the WGC-NEC Invitational and is due to play the WGC-Amex Invitational, too. And now comes the World Cup call.