Out of the Rough: Hero Indian Open (2026)

The DP World Tour will play its final tournament before a near month-long hiatus, including a break for the Masters tournament, with this week’s Hero Indian Open.

The Gary Player Course at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon, India will take center-stage this week, just as it has since 2017.

Outside of a three year hiatus due to COVID, this event has been in existence since 1964 and up until 2000, was held exclusively at either the Delhi Golf Club or Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

It has been a part of the DP World Tour Schedule since 2015.

The Field

Much of who we saw playing in last week’s Hainan Classic will also tee it up this week in India.

Along with a slew of DP World tour regulars, 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner and Hero brand ambassador, Akshay Bhatia will headline this week’s field.

Additionally, with LIV Golf now off until post-Masters Tournament, David Puig and Elvis Smylie will be playing this week as well.

Joining Puig as winners on the season playing this week are Dan Bradbury, Casey Jarvis, Freddy Schott and Nacho Elvira.

Eugenio Chacarra comes in as the defending champion, having topped Keita Nakajima by two strokes a season ago.

The Course

As previously mentioned, The Gary Player Course at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon, India is regarded as one of the most challenging tracks in the world of professional golf.

It plays as a Par 72 at roughly 7,293 yards. The yardage is hard to pin down as it is listed at as much as 7,600 in previous years but has played more to the tune of 7,200 yards.

The fairways are narrow with some undulation. Water is also in play on seven holes this week - one, five, six, eight, nine, 16 and 18.

The course is wall-to-wall Bermuda, including the greens. These greens are large and undulating.

Eddie Pepperell once suggested the course had been designed by Satan. “Literally every shot, something can go wrong,” said Pepperell. “It’s quite a walk and mentally it will be very draining to stay up there, if you’re up there the whole week in contention.”

Matt Wallace, the 2018 victor, said, “Every hole is a double-bogey waiting to happen.”

In all, this will be a true test of not only a complete golf game, but can fare to play more to the mental side of things than not. Golfers will need to accept that they’ll have some bad holes this week but it’ll be those who can bounce back on the very next hole that will have a chance this week.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is a five-percent chance of precipitation on Thursday, a ten-percent chance on Friday, a five-percent chance on Saturday and a 15-percent chance on Sunday. Temperatures will begin the week at 84-degrees across both Thursday and Friday before increasing to 86-degrees on Saturday and peaking at 87-degrees on Sunday. Winds are set for ten miles-per-hour for all of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Winds will decrease to nine miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Betting Card

Check back Monday (3/23) for my full betting card!

2025 Betting Card

• Francesco Laporta (+3300) - MC

• Brandon Thompson-Robinson (+4000) - T17th

• John Parry (+4500) - T29th

• Marcel Schneider (+6000) - MC

• Marcus Armitage (+9000) - T43rd

2024 Betting Card

• Jordan Smith (+1800) - T37th

• Bernd Wiesberger (+3300) - MC

• Frederic LaCroix (+4000) - T21st

• Daniel Hillier (+6000) - W/D

• Darius van Driel (+15000) - T31st