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Gaganjeet Bhullar leads Indian charge at DGC Open golf
The 10-time winner on the Asian Tour leads a sizeable Indian contingent in the $750,000 tournament being played at the Delhi Golf Club course from Thursday.
A total of 49 Indians will be in action in the 138-strong field when the second edition of the DGC Open gets underway at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Thursday. In the absence of last edition's runner-up Ajeetesh Sandhu — he lost to Thailand's Nitithorn Thippong in the playoff — the home contingent will be led by the experienced Gaganjeet Bhullar and an impressive bunch of youngsters who will be keen to make an impression at the $750,000 Asian Tour event.
Bhullar, who finished fourth at the redesigned course last March, had a decent 2022 in which he won the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational and finished third at the SSP Chawrasia Invitational events on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI). With 10 Asian Tour wins to his name, the 34-year-old is the most successful Indian on the tour.
“I am feeling good, playing good. I am on a good run. I am hitting the ball well. The goal is to hit more and more fairways this week and try and hold my putts,” he said after playing a round on Wednesday. While the firm greens, narrow fairways and strong breeze tested the players last year, Bhullar reckoned the course will be a lot more benign this time.
“The course is quite soft, the greens are receptive but the ball tends to spin quite a lot on holes eight and nine. The wind has also been quite manageable so far,” Bhullar said.
Viraj Madappa, who has played here regularly and won the Tata Steel PGTI MP Cup in 2021, was wary of letting the guard down on a course with thick fairway bushes that punishes wayward shots.
“The fairways are a little softer than usual. The greens are very grassy and lush. The course has experienced some traffic over the past year, so expect it to play slower than before. That doesn’t mean there will be fewer challenges,” the 25-year-old, 34th at last year's DGC Open, said.
“I have played here 8-10 times, so I feel I am a bit of a local boy. The thing about this course is that the fairways can get really tight. So, even if you pitch just a little off line, the ball rolls into the bushes. The key is to keep the ball in play and be precise with the stroke making.
“On a course like this, you really don't need to change much in terms of your game. You ought to minimise the movement of the ball, look to hit a little straighter, and find the fairways,” Madappa, the only Indian to play in the breakaway Saudi LIV Tour, said.
Among the other Indians in the fray, Bengaluru’s S Chikkarangappa, fresh from a top-10 finish at last week's International Series Thailand, will be keen to cash in on his form. He will tee off with city-mate Khalin Joshi and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai, 24th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Rashid Khan, SSP Chawrasia, and Shiv Kapur complete the battle-hardened lot while the young guns will be represented by Yuvraj Sandhu, Veer Ahlawat and Angad Cheema, all of who impressed at last month's Hero Indian Open DP World Tour event in Gurugram.
“We have incredible bench strength. I won't be surprised to see an Indian winner this weekend,” said Bhullar. The entry to the event will be free for all speactors on all days of the competition.
