The DP World Tour heads back to India for the first time in four years this week for the Hero Indian Open, an event which was just beginning to gain in recognition prior to the pandemic arriving, and one which conclude the first Asian leg of the DP World Tour season.
This tournament was last held in 2019 when Stephen Gallacher was the champion. He is in the field this week looking to retain a title he has had hold of for four years but a competitive looking cast list will take him on.
Recent Winners
2019 – Stephen Gallacher
2018 – Matt Wallace
2017 – SSP Chawrasia
2016 – SSP Chawrasia
2015 – Anirban Lahiri
The Course
It might have been four years since this tournament last took place but we are back at the DLF Golf and Country Club once again. The par 72 track measures one yard more than it did four years ago at 7,380 yards but if you miss the fairways here you are staring bogey or worse in the face. There are not many tracks where hitting the fairways is as important as it is here.
The rough is so thick here that lost balls are not rare and there is water in play on a number of holes. The greens are huge and full of undulations so accuracy and pure ball striking are very much the order of the day. Players who are not hitting the ball well simply won’t get anywhere near this week.
The Field
As with the two previous weeks in Asia, we don’t have the strongest field that has ever been assembled but it is a competitive one, one which includes the winner in Thailand last week in Thorbjorn Olesen and the defending champion Stephen Gallacher. Former winner around here, SSP Chawrasia, is also in the field and he is one of a number of home players who will be looking to go well over the course of the week.
Three other members of the top 100 in the world rankings are in the field this week. They are Kazuki Higa, Pablo Larrazabal and Robert MacIntyre. Olesen is the only player in the top 20 in the Race to Dubai rankings in the field this week but four other players in the top 30 tee it up in the form of Nicolai Hojgaard, Yannik Paul, Joost Luiten and Jeunghun Wang. The field might lack the star names but there are number of form horses here.
Market Leaders
Thorbjorn Olesen won in Thailand last week and he is 11/1 to follow that up with another success in India this week. Olesen is one of the better players on the DP World Tour and if everything is equal he could easily take this down, although he can sometimes spray it around off the tee which was a luxury he could afford last week but isn’t one he can enjoy this week. I always think it is hard to win in successive weeks, especially when wins are few and far between and are emotional affairs. He’s a worthy favourite but it is a tough ask.
Robert MacIntyre and Nicolai Hojgaard are next in the betting at 14/1. The latter is another who might be a little too wild with the driver to prosper around this track but MacIntyre should have a good skillset in order to go well here. The concern with him would be over his form which hasn’t really suggested he is hitting the ball as well as he might need to in order to be competitive here. Neither of these are for me in truth.
Yannik Paul and Joost Luiten come next in the betting at 20/1 on the best prices. The former has started the year fairly well and was second to Olesen in Thailand last week so he can be expected to travel well again. The latter was third behind those two last week which was his second top 15 finish of what is still a relatively new season so neither of these can be ruled out should the exertions of the last week or so not have taken too much out of them.
Main Bets
I always like to back home players in this tournament and my main bet among the Indian contingent is Shubhankar Sharma, a player who is usually pretty straight off the tee and who can use the rest of his game to good advantage. Sharma has missed his last two cuts but prior to that he was seventh in Abu Dhabi and third at the Nedbank so he remains a decent player at this level. Those tournaments were in much better fields than this one and the fact he came third at a quirky course like Sun City certainly does his chances no harm here. He was seventh here in 2018 and is a much better player now and looks main bet material at around 25/1.
My other main bet is also an Asian player in the form of Masahiro Kawamura, the runner up in this tournament the last time it was staged in 2019. Kawamura is seventh on the DP World Tour for fairways hit this season which is encouraging. The Japanese opened up the season with a top seven in Australia and although he has missed his last three cuts, that result highlights that he isn’t completely out of form. The ones who hit the fairways this week are the ones who will prosper and not many hit more than Kawamura so I’ll take him to come through here.
Outsiders
Two bets standout among what you would call the outsider brigade this week. The home man Gaganjeet Bhullar is the first of those. Even though the Asian Tour has been gatecrashed by all the LIV recruits, Bhullar actually sits third on that tour for driving accuracy, which as I keep mentioning is a big thing this week. He was just outside the top 20 in the tournament in Qatar so he comes here in decent form. Bhullar hasn’t really done it in this tournament but the company he has been keeping in recent weeks should have sharpened his game up and if he hits fairways this week at the level he has been hitting them on the Asian Tour he is entitled to be right in the mix.
Thomas Aiken was fourth in fairways hit last week and second in strokes gained on approach and if he performs in the long game department to that level this week he is going to score very well. We know that the South African has a bit of an Achilles heel on the greens but this tournament hasn’t been held for four years so nobody is going to be that confident with these dancefloors. Aiken has plenty of experience and has played in Asia enough to know how to modify his game and if his long game is at the same level it was last week he is a huge price here.
Tips
Back S.Sharma to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back M.Kawamura to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back G.Bhullar to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back T.Aiken to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
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