Out of the Rough: DP World India Championship (2025)

In the penultimate stop of the DP World Tour’s regular season, the Tour heads to India for the inaugural playing of the DP World India Championship.

The Delhi Golf Club, set in the heart of the capital city of India plays host this week.

The host course this week isn’t completely new to the DP World Tour, but it has been nearly nine years since the Tour teed up in Delhi.

It last hosted the Indian Open in 2016 and most recently hosted The DGC Open presented by Mastercard of the Asian PGA Tour in 2023.

Along the way, golfers are competing for the largest prize money ever awarded in a golf tournament in India.

The Field

With the DP World Tour Playoffs quickly approaching, a world class field is making the trip to India to play in the inaugural playing of the DP World India Championship.

None more notable than World No. 2 Rory McIlroy who far-and-away headlines this week’s field.

He’ll be joined by fellow Ryder Cup winning teammates in World No. 5 Tommy Fleetwood, World No. 13 Viktor Hovland and World No. 25 Shane Lowry.

They’ll also be joined by Ryder Cup winning captain Luke Donald, who makes his first appearance since captaining Team Europe to a second consecutive Ryder cup.

Ben Griffin and Brian Harman are PGA Tour regulars and non DP World Tour regulars playing this week.

Adrien Saddier, John Parry, Jordan Smith and Martin Couvra lead a strong DP World Tour regular contingent.

The Course

Delhi Golf Course, or the Lodhi, as it is known locally was founded in 1951 and designed by General J.H. Wilkinson.

It plays as a par-72 at roughly 6,912 yards.

The Delhi Golf Club is one of the most unique courses in the world as players must navigate Mughal-era surroundings, including centuries-old monuments.

Additionally, golfers will all-but-certainly encounter a wide variety of wildlife this week, including snakes, nilgai and peacocks. Among the wildlife is a wide-variety of birds, in which each hole is named after a bird.

Delhi Golf Club shows its teeth off-the-green with each fairway being lined by native trees, bushes and native vegetation.

Oftentimes, such hazards come into play merely a few steps from the edge of the fairway. Even a slight miss may find the ball rolling into a bush and requiring the player to take a drop. 

Many of the holes feature dog-logs, often left-to-right which plays into the cross winds that often come left-to-right at the facility. The fairways too are contoured in a way to run the ball left-to-right.

From there, golfers will look to attack these oddly shaped Bermudagrass greens in which no green is the same. Heck, there’s even an “L” shaped green.

Hole 16 features a tree in the middle of the fairway that serves as a “ball magnet" as well.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is essentially no chance of precipitation across all four days. It will be warm, as Thursday and Friday are currently forecasted at 89-degrees while Saturday and Sunday are both calling for 90-degrees. Winds too will be essentially non-existent, maxing out at most, six miles-per-hour across the first three days and just five miles-per-hour on Sunday. In all, it appears to be a great four-days for some golf!

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG) 

• Driving Accuracy Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Three-Putt Avoidance

• Par 5 Average Scoring

• Scrambing

Betting Card

Brian Harman (+2200)

When breaking down this course and event, I first started looking at golfers who have played links courses well due to the cross winds, need for accuracy off-the-tee and the shaping of the fairways. On top of that, this is a very talented field and you need to find a golfer who can hang with the big-guns. Harman, although he hasn’t shown it much as-of-late, is a major champion. He won the Open Championship in 2023 at Royal Liverpool doing just that, flighting the ball low through the winds and positioning himself perfectly in each-and-every fairway. On the PGA Tour he is currently 37th in driving accuracy, 41st in three putt avoidance, 62nd in scrambling, 85th in SG: PUTT, 102nd in par-five average scoring and 108th in SG: TTG. He most recently played on the PGA Tour at the TOUR Championship where he finished 13th. He also placed 19th at the BMW Championship and 22nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. 

John Parry (+4500)

Here’s one of the guys I’ve bet early and often this season. Parry is currently fourth on Tour in SG: TTG, 35th in scrambling, 36th in par-five average scoring, 41st in driving accuracy, 92nd in three putt avoidance and 115th in SG: PUTT. He placed 23rd last week at the Open de Espana and placed third recently at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He had two missed cuts prior to that but also placed 29th at the Amgen Irish Open, 13th at the Omega European Masters, 43rd at the Betfred British Masters and third at the Nexo Championship. He’s played links golf extremely well this season, especially as of late. 

Adrien Saddier (+6000)

In line with Parry, Saider is another golfer I can’t stop betting. He last played at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where he would have missed the cut if it wasn’t for the event being cut short. Prior to that he placed 32nd at the Open de Espana, second at the BMW PGA Championship, fifth at the Amgen Irish Open, 33rd at the Omega European Masters and 24th at the Danish Golf Championship. He is currently 19th on Tour in three putt avoidance, 22nd in par-five average scoring, 27th in SG: TTG, 37th in driving accuracy, 38th in scrambling and 42nd in SG: PUTT. In other terms, he models too well to ignore this week. 

Jeff Winther (+12500)

Now onto the long shot. Winther is intriguing. He’s in great form, not having missed a cut dating back to the Nexo Championship. He placed 22nd last week at the Open de Espana, 83rd at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 49th at the Open de France, 66th at the BMW PGA Championship, ninth at the Omega European Masters, 41st at the Betfred British Masters and 40th at the Danish Golf Championship. He is currently 23rd on Tour in driving accuracy, 59th in scrambling, 67th in SG: TTG, 68th in par-five average scoring, 84th in SG: PUTT and 95th in three-putt avoidance. He’s in good form, models well and is at a big price.

Ben Schmidt (+20000)

Another long shot I couldn’t ignore this week. Schmidt is currently 23rd on Tour in three-putt avoidance, 31st in driving accuracy, 41st in SG: PUTT, 59th in par-five average scoring, 82nd in scrambling and 91st in SG: TTG. Now, he has a mixed-bag of results as of late. He placed 23rd last week at the Open de Espana and 83rd at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He missed two cuts prior but placed 29th at the Amgen Irish Open. He also recently placed third at the Danish Golf Championship and 13th at the Nexo Championship.