Top Indian golfers out to regain form
As the national Open, the Hero Indian Open is often called the “fifth Major” by Indian professionals. So, plenty will at stake for Shubhankar Sharma, Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia when they tee off at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram from March 28-31.
All three are going through a rough patch, albeit on different tours — Lahiri on the PGA Tour, Shubhankar and SSP in Europe, and there isn’t a better platform to get back to the winners’ circle again. History too is with them. SSP pulled off the rare feat of defending the title he won in 2016 at the Delhi Golf Club in DLF, and became the third player to do so in the tournament’s 55-year-history. Add to it the four runner-up finishes, and few can match the 40-year-old’s record in the $1.75 million event.
Anirban had pipped SSP in a playoff in 2015, a landmark season that began with a win at Maybank Malaysian Open and ended with him sealing his playing rights on the PGA Tour, courtesy the top-five PGA C’ship finish.
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As for Shubhankar, 2018 defined his short professional career. Two wins on the European Tour at the start of the season, an invite to The Masters, two top-10s on the PGA Tour and featuring in all four Majors, it was only appropriate that he made an impact at the Indian Open with a tied seventh. Tri-sanctioned by the European, Asian Tours and Professional Golf Tour of India, 144 players will tee off with 54 each from the European and Asian Tours, and 26 from PGTI.
South Africa’s Brandon Stone, winner of the 2018 Scottish Open, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, a four-time winner on the European Tour, and Andrew Johnston, who lost in a playoff here last year to fellow Englishman Matt Wallace, headline the strong field from Europe.