Anirban Lahiri has been a trailblazer for Indian golf in recent years and became the first player from his country to post a top five in a major when T5 at last year’s PGA Championship.
He’s one of 12 former champions on show in his home Hero Indian Open at the DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi this week.
The tournament is relatively new to the European Tour schedule having been played just twice previously.
Lahiri won the first of those at Delhi GC in 2015 when beating S.S.P. Chawrasia in a playoff. Twelve months later at the same venue it was role reversal as Chawrasia took victory with Lahiri tied for second.
But any presumption that the Indian duo will enjoy a third head-to-head in 2017 could be wide of the mark due to a change in venue. Let’s just say it could be a controversial one.
The course
New Delhi measured in at just 6,983 yards. It was all about strategy and irons off the tee; the antithesis of a bomber’s course. In 2017, step forward the Gary Player course at DLF Golf and Country Club. It’s a monster and measures 7,657 yards. The 16th is a par 3 of 273 yards. Add in water, elevation changes, tough bunkering and extremely tricky greens and the course could, shall we say, split opinion. Chawrasia has already said “it may have a different feel” and clearly his short hitting won’t be anywhere near as suited to the task in hand. The only form guide we have is that four months ago Aditi Ashok became the first Indian player to win a Ladies European Tour event when taking victory there with 3-under, beating Brittany Lincicome by a shot. Only four players finished under par for the week. Looking at the stats in that tournament (Women’s Indian Open), greens in regulation was the best pointer with five of the top six finishing in the top five for GIR on the week. One final note, Lahiri believes the course is more European in style, having longer holes and wider fairways than a typical Indian layout. As a result he expects fewer home players to be on the leaderboard. Note: The club did hold the 2012 Avantha Masters but that was on the much shorter Arnold Palmer course.
The weather
The weekend looks very pleasant with golden sunshine, very little wind and temperatures (high 70s) pleasant rather than oppressive. However, rain is in the forecast both Thursday and Friday although it’s due to be hotter with the mercury hitting the mid-80s.
The Leading Contenders
“I’ll be playing it the first time when I get there,” said Lahiri on Friday so he won’t have the big edge he had at Delhi Golf Club last year, a venue where he’d won four times. Including results before it became co-sanctioned, Lahiri has form figures in his home Open of 2-1-2-5-15-MC-3. The Indian star has played mostly on the PGA TOUR this season, but did shine back in ‘Europe’ when T19 in Dubai and T7 in the Maybank. Either side he was T25 in the CareerBuilder and T11 at the Honda Classic so he’s playing some excellent golf and deserves to top the betting.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
After his usual fine play on the Desert Swing (19-6-11), RCB has just levelled off a little with T34 at the Maybank, T37 at the Honda Classic and T38 at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Overall, he’s not quite doing everything well enough but it’s all relative and a sign of raised expectations when T37 in a PGA TOUR event is considered mediocre. He’s not played in India since the 2011 Avantha Masters but the Spaniard took T16 on that occasion and he’ll want to live up to his status as being the big European star taking part this week.
Fresh from scoring his breakthrough win and earning playing privileges on the European Tour for the next two years, Burmester jets in from South Africa for his first start in India. He was hugely impressive at the Tshwane, grabbing the tournament by the scruff of the neck with seven birdies in the opening 10 holes on Sunday and that three-shot win added to 17-4-11 in the other three co-sanctioned events in South Africa. He’s a bomber – No.1 in Driving Distance in fact – so should be a great fit for this long course.
Poised to make a serious challenge in his home Tshwane Open last week following an opening 68, it went horribly wrong for Coetzee on day two and he missed the cut after a 76. It’s probably fair to view that in isolation as he’d posted a couple of top sevens in two of his three previous European Tour starts (Dubai and Joburg). Talking of seven, he’s not played an event in India for seven years, his three finishes there from 2008-10 reading 12-63-44.
The American is no stranger to Indian soil and is 4-for-4 in European/Challenge Tour events there. That includes T31 in last year’s Indian Open and a pair of top 20s in the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in 2012 and 2013. He’s up to 24th on this season’s Race to Dubai after three top seven finishes in his last six starts – T7 in the South African Open, T5 in Dubai and solo fourth in last week’s Tshwane Open after a hot 65-66 weekend finish.
One of the big Asian stars on show this week and India has been kind to the Thai. Aphibarnrat won the Asian Tour’s 2011 SAIL Open in India, was fourth in the Avantha Masters at Jaypee Greens in 2013 and T10 in the 2012 Avantha at this venue (not same course). In fact, he’s finished worse than T29 just once in nine starts in the country. After two excellent finishes on the Desert Swing (T4 Abu Dhabi, T9 Qatar), he’s missed cuts in Dubai and Malaysia which could dampen the enthusiasm of some gamers.
He may be 98 spots below him in the world rankings, (124th v 26th) but Campillo may actually appeal more to some gamers than his compatriot Cabrera-Bello this week. That 124th spot is his all-time high and represents a jump of 29 spots on last week after he finished joint runner-up in the Tshwane Open in South Africa. That was Campillo’s fifth top 25 in his last seven worldwide starts. And the good news doesn’t stop there. The Spaniard was T10 in last year’s Indian Open and runner-up at this venue (rather than course) in the 2012 Avantha Masters.
He’s played all four rounds in 13 of his last 14 events but Hend has only a single top 40 (T29 in the Maybank Championship) in his last six starts. However, he’s the Asian Tour No.1 after winning the Order of Merit last season so it’s expected he shines bright when the European Tour visits this part of the world. The Aussie is 13-for-18 in India with just two top 10s but this long, wider course should suit his big hitting more than most Indian tracks.
If Lahiri is correct and the course suits the Europeans more this year, Smith is an obvious candidate to make that theory come true. The rookie sits 20th on this year’s Race to Dubai (next highest is Thomas Detry in 37th) and has cashed in seven straight starts, including T29 in last week’s Tshwane. Highlights so far are a third in the South African Open and T6 in the Qatar Masters. He was 4th on the All-Around at the Tshwane – further evidence that the polished youngster does most things very well.
It’s been an excellent start to the season for the French rookie and he’s met all the lofty expectations by making six cuts out of six. Four of those have been top 25s and in the last two weeks in South Africa he’s posted T11 in Joburg and T18 at the Tshwane, finishing in the top 10 for greens in regulation in both. He’s a long-ball hitter so, despite this being his debut in India, expect the good times to keep rolling this week.
The Next Rung
It’s a first start for Rumford since his dominant victory in the World Super 6 Perth where he was too good for the rest of the field in both stroke play and match play. All that local knowledge will be removed here of course but bear in mind his two previous European Tour wins came in back-to-back weeks in China and South Korea in 2013 so he’s not just a home bird. The Aussie’s only two starts in India were T22 (2011) and T71 (2013) in the Avantha Masters.
Another Aussie who excelled in front of his home fans at the World Super 6 Perth. That fourth place mirrored his finish in December’s Australian Open and he followed that with T10 in Hong Kong. He’s played in the last two Indian Opens (MC and T45) so will hope he’ll enjoy better fortunes on this new Gary Player layout. Scriver was born in South Africa. That’s tenuous though isn’t it!
The former Ryder Cup star will be a popular figure this week given his big hitting and charisma but he’s cashed just once in four starts on the European Tour this season. That came via T28 in the Qatar Masters which he followed with missed cuts in Dubai and Malaysia. Colsaerts hasn’t pegged it up in India before but, in theory, this track should be a nice fit as he’s third in Driving Distance this season.
After an injury-induced slump, the Scot showed hints that better times were around the corner again when T12 in his final two starts on last year’s Race to Dubai. He continued his resurgence with T10 in the Aussie PGA, added T25 in Hong Kong and returned to his favorite tournament, the Dubai Desert Classic, to post T9. He’s had a month off since which is a slight concern and the only evidence of him playing in India is T48 in the Indian Masters nine years ago.
The 17-year-old Thai became the youngest winner of a pro tournament when landing the Sing Hua Hin Open when aged 14 and continues to ride phenom status. He’s already played in an Open Championship and caused serious media interest in the World Super 6 Perth last month when making it all the way to the final before being taken down by home hero Brett Rumford. Also runner-up at January’s Singapore Open (Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia finished behind him), he’s 2-for-2 on Indian soil (T52 and T36). The UK bookies have him in the top 10 in the betting.
He’s finished 1-2-1 in the last three editions of the Indian Open. He’s won three European Tour events on Indian soil (2008, 2011 and 2016). He’s posted 1-2-1-4-2-5 in his last six starts at home. Usually, he’s a no-brainer when the European Tour visits his homeland but this week’s course is a vastly different animal to the shorter tracks where he’s thrived and managers have to decide whether he can still find the same magic on a course that may be far too long for him.
The Spaniard can give it a bash off the tee and is 33rd on the Race to Dubai after a couple of big weeks on the Desert Swing – T6 at the Qatar Masters and T11 in the Dubai Desert Classic. He’s since missed cuts at the Maybank and last week’s Tshwane Open although T27 in last year’s Indian Open suggests he can do well this week, albeit on a very different type of course.
The short and steady American southpaw was ideally suited to the sub-7000 yard Delhi Golf Club (scene of the previous two Indian Opens) and, indeed, was T10 there in 2015. Probably not so to this week’s monster though. Peterson at least has some form after shooting a 62 in R1 when T7 in Joburg but his irons were a little off when T37 in the Tswhane. He’ll need them dialled in this week.
The South African youngster continues to take the eye and be tipped up as one to watch and he justified such faith with T16 at the Joburg Open and T12 at Tshwane. Before that he’d hit 90.7% of greens in reg when T8 at the Dimension Data Pro-Am. It’s his first event in India but the more modern course will likely help him.
Sleeper Picks
The 26-year-old Indian is 20th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and is a strong performer in his homeland. Khan won the 2014 SAIL Open, was runner-up in December’s Panasonic Open and has cracked the top 10 in six of his last 10 starts in India. This is a step up but he showed he could hold his own at this sort of level when T12 in the co-sanctioned Maybank Championship in Malaysia.
Shubankar Sharma
From India and just 21 years old, Sharma is fourth on the current Asian Tour Order of Merit so deserves a good mention. He’s connected five top 15s since the start of January and his latest form reads 9-4-9 thanks mainly to accurate driving and strong iron play. Owns a pair of top fours and two other top 15s from his last five starts on home Indian turf.
The Spanish youngster smashes it off the tee so the course could be a good one for him. He arrives in India on the back of T29 at Tshwane, T16 in Joburg and T20 in the World Super 6 Perth so current form gets a tick.
Another home player to consider even though he’s not made the weekend in the last three Indian Opens. On his CV you’ll find a Challenge Tour win and three Asian Tour second places in India. Also in decent nick after T28 in the World Super 6 Perth and T20 in the Maybank.
Jbe Kruger
He missed the Tshwane cut but made the top 25 in Joburg. Kruger is of added interest this week as he won the 2012 Avantha Masters at the Arnold Palmer course here. Also T15 in last year’s Indian Open.
Siddukur Rahman
Boasts a superb record in this event with a win in 2013 and three other top 10s in his last five tries. But, the man from Bangladesh is a real shorty off the tee and this may not be the course for him. Runner-up in his home Open last month but T41 and MC in two co-sanctioned events since.
One of the better known Indian players and T12 in the Maybank Championship in Malaysia is a good sign. T10 in this event last year but another whose lack of length may hurt him on the new venue.
Perhaps it’s too simplistic to think the European Tour’s second longest ranked driver will automatically shine on this lengthy course given his iffy form. But T20 in this event last year is encouraging and he was T26 at halfway in Joburg two starts ago before fading.
Who’s On The Team?
It’s a tricky week with the comfort of course form removed and we really don’t know how the new Gary Player venue could go down with the players.
Anirban Lahiri can cope with longer tracks (T5 at Whistling Straits) so looks a must play even though he admits he’s got no prior knowledge of the course.
If he’s come down from the high of his win last week, Dean Burmester should be equipped to take on this track.
Also, if we believe Lahiri’s claim that Euros will be more suited to this particular test, Spanish big hitters Nacho Elvira and Pep Angles could be outsiders to make an impression.
I’ll reveal my full six-man line-up for the European Tour’s official Fantasy game in Tuesday’s Playing The Tips feature.
One To Swerve
S.S.P. Chawrasia has an amazing record in his home Open but I don’t like his chances on this monster layout.
