DGC, DLF events put India firmly on the international golf map

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was a popular winner of the inaugural DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club. Image courtesy DPWIC.

By Rahul Banerji

Thousands poured through the games of the Delhi Golf Club to witness the coronation of Tommy Fleetwood as the inaugural winner of the $4 million DP World India Championship on Sunday.

They had come in numbers through the week to watch some of the finest players on the planet live and close up. And few would have left disappointed, such was the quality of golf on display.

Putting on a golf fest were seven of the world’s top 50 and 10 of the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings. They included Open Championship winners Shane Lowry and Brian Harman, DPWIC runner-up Keita Nakajima, and more.

And then there was Rory McIlroy.

Grand Slam winner Rory cIlroy was the face of the $4 million DP World Tour event through his week-long stay in Delhi. Image courtesy DPWIC.

The Northern Ireland star who finally achieved a long-awaited goal of victory at teh Masters and the career Grand Slam besides being part of the Ryder Cu p winning team in New York was a magnet for the masses of fans.

Star attraction

The genial McIlroy has returned to being a global spokesman for golf after a brief detour three years ago and was without a shadow of doubt the stellar draw all through last week.

The DPWIC also capped a year that saw India emerge on the international golf stage after a long time.

The positive outflow on social media has been sensational with Fleetwood, Lowry and a host of others airing appreciative thoughts on Instagram and X with special words of praise for the hospitality that greeted them, and the DGC course.

Japanese star Keita Nakajima loves India’s golf courses with one win and a second-place finish at the Indian Open in successive years and taking the runner-up spot behind Fleetwood on Sunday. Image courtesy DPWIC.

The Delhi Golf Club’s  Lodhi Course is a far cry from the massive and often denuded tracks a good number of the field ply their trade on. 

It tested some skills they have left behind from formative years, and no doubt some clubs they rarely pull out of the bag on the PGA and DP World Tours.

Back-to-back

In fact, the DGC event was the second international event in as many weeks, the DLF Golf and Country Club having hosted the Hero Women’s Indian Open’s finale the previous week.

Before that was the Asian Tour’s elevated International Series that kicked off a bonanza year for India’s golf fans. 

Boosted by the massively popular presence of LIV Golf superstar Bryson DeChambeau, it was followed by the Hero Indian Open before the DPWIC arrived as icing on the cake.

It’s been, in short, one heck of a year for international golf in India.

A young fan gets a good look at the stellar field teeing off at the DGC on Sunday. Photo Rahul Banerji.

And it is now up to the sport’s domestic stakeholders — the Indian Golf Union, PGTI, Women’s Golf Association of Indi and it’s associated WPGT and even the nascent IGPL — to convert this enthusiasm for golf into something more substantial.

Over to them.

Also read: Doting dad Fleetwood wins DP World India C’ship for son Frankie