As many as nine past winners from the DP World (European) Tour’s 2022 season are expected to tee off on the opening day of the $2 million Hero Indian Open 2023 at the Gary Player-designed layout at the DLF Golf and Country club next week.
Scottish prodigy Robert MacIntyre will be one of those looking to take back the Hero Indian Open Trophy, last won by countryman Stephen Gallacher in 2019, when the tournament was last played.
The two Scotsmen duo along with David Law, who was third at the Hero Open held last year in Scotland, will be gunning for top honours at the event that is being staged for the 56th time.
The list of 2022 winners includes Yannik Paul, Guido Migliozzi, MacIntyre, Kalle Samooja, Thorbjørn Olesen (once ranked 33rd in the world), Pablo Larrazabal (2), Nicolai Højgaard and Shaun Norris, making it one of the strongest fields in more than a decade at the Hero Indian Open.
Most of the European contingent are also looking to bank Ryder Cup points to try and qualify for the biennial clash against the United States, to be played in Italy later this year.
The home challenge will be led by two-time champion Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia, whose record at the Hero Indian Open is legendary.
Solid presence
The diminutive but ever-smiling Kolkatan was a dominant figure at the Hero Indian Open, winning it twice and finishing second on as many as four other occasions. Between 2013-14 and 2017, in four successive editions of the tournament, he never finished lower than tied second besides winning in 2016 and 2017.
Chawrasia was also the first champion when the Hero Indian Open when it moved to the DLF Golf and Country Club in 2017. In fact, he has twice won DP World titles on this course – in 2011 and 2017, but on different layouts, the Arnold Palmer course and thereafter the Gary Player layout.
Another Indian performer to look forward to is former DP World Tour Rookie of the Year Shubhankar Sharma, who has shown signs of solid form recently.
Another home challenger to watch out for is Manu Gandas, who gained a DP World Tour card as the topper of the domestic PGTI Order of Merit in 2022, winning six times in a record-breaking spree.