Eight SA golfers in the field for Indian Open

Several of the country’s established golfers will seek respect and rewards in New Delhi and Houston this week, while others relax over the long weekend.

Eight South Africans have been listed in the field for today’s start of the Hero Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club in Delhi. The group includes Oliver Bekker, Brandon Stone and Daniel van Tonder.

The tournament sees the European Tour make its way from Singapore to India for the second event of its “Asian Swing”.

Last year in Delhi, Marcel Siem of Germany ended a near nine-year wait for his fifth European Tour title, winning by one stroke from compatriot Yannik Paul.

Siem, according to tour information, is not in the field this week after recently undergoing surgery on a hip injury, but Paul is back and hopes to go one better than last year’s performance.

While the last three editions featured non-Indian winners, there is a strong contingent of players hoping to regain the title on home soil this week, including Shubhankar Sharma, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri.

The players will be strutting their stuff on a Gary Player-designed course and the purse there is €1,58 million (R32,4 million).

In the U.S., the PGA Tour is featuring the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course in the Texas location from today.

The purse there is $9,1 million (R172 million) and the field includes Garrick Higgo and the more mature Dawie van der Walt from these shores.

American Tony Finau is the defending champion, while compatriot and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is said to be returning to action after back-to-back wins on the PGA Tour.

Finau is looking to become the first person to successfully defend his title in Houston since Vijay Singh in 2004/05.

This is while Scheffler is seeking to become the first golfer to win three straight events on the PGA Tour since 2017, after his two recent wins in Florida.

The Houston Open was last held in November 2022. With the PGA Tour returning to a calendar-year schedule for 2024, it was not held in 2023.