Hero Indian Open
Jesper Svensson earned his DP World Tour card last fall off the Challenge Tour. Entering last weekend, he had already posted two runner-up finishes at South African Open Championship and the Bahrain Championship. On Sunday, he broke through for his first DP World Tour victory at a price of 70-1 in a playoff over Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Svensson shot a 63 (64 for Aphibarnrat) in the final round, which included three bogeys, to reach the playoff and eventually triumphed on the third playoff hole as his length on playing the par-5 18th gave him the ultimate edge over Aphibarnrat.
This week, the DP World Tour stays in Asia and heads to New Delhi for the Hero Indian Open.
Aphibarnrat (40-1) will attempt to rebound from his runner-up finish this week.
The favorite this week is Rasmus Højgaard (14-1). Jordan Smith (20-1) was a runner-up three weeks ago in South Africa.
Ewen Ferguson (22-1), Richard Mansell (25-1) and Joost Luiten (33-1) all finished just outside the Top 10 in 11th.
Yannik Paul (28-1) was runner-up here last year.
Anirban Lahiri (25-1) returns to his native India from LIV Golf to try and win his national open for the first time since 2015. Shubhankar Sharma (28-1), also from India, was in the mix last week to win in Singapore before settling for T-7.
Keita Nakajima and Sebastian Soderberg are also at 28-1.
The Event
The Hero Indian Open made its return to the DP World Tour last year for the first time since 2019 as it was canceled each of the last three years due to COVID-19. The event was co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour, but it is now under DP World Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India auspices.
The Course
The Gary Player-designed DLF Golf & Country Club has played host to this event since 2017. It is a challenging par-72, 7,416-yard track with a great deal of undulation that includes narrow fairways and thicker rough. The course is considered one of the tougher ones in Asia. Only 24 players finished under par here last year. Accuracy will be at a premium and the winner will need to embrace the grind that comes with playing this track.
Fairways are fairly narrow, and water features heavily on six holes including the par-3 fifth, which is to an island green as the front nine (the “Lake 9”) meanders around the two lakes that the course flanks. The back nine (the “Quarry 9”) is the longest of the two and contains the holes with the most elevation change. Bermudagrass has been used throughout the construction with Mini Verde the strain of choice on the greens.
Recent History/Results
2023: Marcel Siem (-14/274); 33-1
No tournament was held from 2020-2022 due to COVID-19.
2019: Stephen Gallacher (-9/279); 150-1
2018: Matt Wallace (-11/277); 66-1*
2017: SSP Chawrasia (-10/278); 80-1
Playoff win over Andrew Johnston – *
Kapil Dev — Grant Thornton Invitational
2022: Varun Parikh (-11/277)
Selections
Bernd Wiesberger (22-1, DraftKings)
Wiesberger did not have his LIV contract renewed and returned to the DP World Tour in January.
While the eight-time DP World Tour winner has yet to contend for a win on his return, he has made all four cuts, including a T-16 last week in Singapore after a six-week break.
The Austrian ranks second for Greens In Regulation, third for Strokes Gained: Around The Green, third for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green which is a statistical profile that should fit a tight and narrow course like DLF.
Shubhankar Sharma (28-1, DraftKings)
Sharma was in the hunt for the victory last week in Singapore before settling for a T-7 finish.
He is very accurate off the tee (13th for Driving Accuracy) and ranks 13th for Strokes Gained: Putting.
The man from India would like nothing more than to win his national open this week.
Adrian Otaegui (35-1, DraftKings)
Speaking of Driving Accuracy, there is no one better in the category on the DP World Tour.
The approach game got off to a slow start this year, but he finally found something in approach in Kenya three starts ago, ranking 11th, which propelled him into a season’s best finish of fourth.
The Spaniard finished 10th here on his only visit in 2019.
Matthias Schwab (60-1, BetMGM)
Schwab finished fifth and 18th here in 2018 and 2019, his only visits to DLF.
The Austrian ranks fifth for Greens In Regulation and 14th for Driving Accuracy.
Darius Van Driel (70-1, FanDuel)
Van Driel earned his first DP World Tour victory in Kenya last month.
This is the Dutchman’s first appearance in India, but he has the profile to take well to this course, ranking top 10 on the DPWT for Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, Strokes Gained: Around The Green. He also ranks in the top 15 for Driving Accuracy and Greens In Regulation.
Rahil Gangjee (120-1, FanDuel)
Gangjee has three wins as a professional but never in his homeland of India.
He has come close many times this year, including last weekend in the Kolkata Challenge on the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) with a runner-up. In fact, that was his third runner-up since the final week of 2023 bookending another finish of third on the PGTI.
Manu Gandas (300-1, FanDuel)
Gandas is a regular on the PGTI.
He finished runner-up on this course in 2022 for the Grant Thornton Invitational and won earlier this year on the PGTI for the eighth time in four seasons.
Placement markets, matchups, and any other futures will be up Wednesday at VSiN.com/picks
