Kuala Lumpur: Rising star Hideki Matsuyama will add a youthful Asian flair to an international field boasting some of the PGA Tour’s most established names at the the fourth edition of the CIMB Classic this October.

An accomplished three-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, the 21-year-old Japanese will hope to kick-start his rookie season on the PGA Tour in splendid fashion as he takes to the challenging West Course of the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club alongside the likes of Brandt Snedeker, Rickie Fowler and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, who also confirmed their participation on Monday.

The quartet join reigning Open champion Phil Mickelson as well as past winners Nick Watney, Bo Van Pelt and Ben Crane at the US$7 million FedEx Cup tournament, which is jointly sanctioned by the PGA Tour and Asian Tour.

“The field is shaping up to be the strongest we’ve seen. Though still early, these confirmations are a huge reflection of the quality that will be on show at the CIMB Classic come October,” said CIMB Group’s marketing & communications head Effendy Shahul Hamid.

The 78-player field will feature 60 players from the PGA Tour, 10 from the Asian Tour and eight sponsor’s exemptions. Two spots have been reserved for Malaysian professional golfers with Rashid Ismail claiming one having won the SapuraKencana National Qualifier last week.

The other local start will be determined based on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), with Sabahan pair Nicholas Fung (509)  and Iain Steel (521) the front-runners ahead of the cut-off date on October 6.