After a frustrating Spanish Open where 22/1 shot Eugenio Chacarra came within a whisker of making a play-off for us and 75/1 chance Joe Dean bogeyed two of the last three holes to drop away from the lead, the Tour moves to India for the second renewal of the DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club as we hope for something better on a Sunday.
With the PGA Tour taking a break this week, that’s left the door open for some of the golfing elite to grace us with their presence – and what a field we have as a result. Rory Mcilroy heads the betting from Tommy Fleetwood at around 6/1 and 9/1 respectively, with Minwoo Lee, Shane Lowry and Robert MacIntyre following on behind in the 14/1 -16/1 range.
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Delhi Golf Club. Designer: HS Wilkinson, 1951 with Peter Thompson re-design, 1977 & Gary Player renovation, 2019; Course Type: Classical, Technical; Par: 72; Length: 6,912 yards; Water Hazards: None in play; Fairways: Bermuda; Rough: Bermuda; Greens: Ultra-Dwarf Bermuda.
Course Overview. The Delhi Golf Club is the oldest and most prestigious club in New Delhi with a membership waiting list reportedly in excess of 30 years.
Originally routed in the early 1950s by H.S. “Bunny” Wilkinson and later reshaped by five-time Open Champion Peter Thomson in 1977, the layout was given a modernisation by Gary Player Design in 2019. The renovation refined green complexes, added new bunkering, and sharpened the strategic angles that define this classical, technical test.
The ‘Lodhi’ is a short, fiddly tree-lined par 72 that’s a test of precision and placement off the tee as opposed to brute force. Green complexes are multi-tiered Ultra-Dwarf Bermuda with mounds and hollows accompanying the greenside bunkers to ensure that anyone missing the putting surfaces will need a razor-sharp short game to avoid dropping shots with regularity.
Four Par-5s measuring 507, 515, 522 and 556 offer opportunities to those who can find the short grass from off the tee, plus a further four sub-400 yard Par-4s also present scoring chances. However the punishment for wayward drives and approach shots is severe, meaning that scoring rarely gets out of control here.
Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s DP World India Championship that will help to shape a view on players who traditionally play well on this course.
With the Panasonic Open, Sail SBI Open, Hero Indian Open and some more recent Indian/Asian Tour events having been played regularly here at Delhi GC over the years as well as last year’s inaugural India Championship, this week’s stats summarise those events going back to 2010: Current Form | Course Form | First Round Leader | Combined Stats
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
Our brand new predictor model is running alongside, where you can build your own rankings in live time using the variables listed on the left hand side.
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for Delhi is here.
The tournament should enjoy hot (high 80s Fahrenheit) and dry conditions throughout the 4 days with light winds expected, strengthening slightly around noon each day although nothing excessive is forecast.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors. Stats are fairly patchy for the events played here at Delhi GC despite there being a lot of history, however the following data from selected events held here over the past ten years gives us some idea of the challenge facing the players:
- 2025: Tommy Fleetwood (-22).266.8 Yards (30th), 76.8% fairways (8th), 76.4% greens in regulation (11th), 76.5% scrambling (9th), 1.65 putts per GIR (11th)
- 2023 DGC Open: Miguel Tabuena (-12). 240.8 Yards (24th), 76.8% fairways (5th), 77.8% greens in regulation (7th), 68.8% scrambling (5th), 1.75 putts per GIR (20th)
- 2022 DGC Open: Nitithorn Thippong (-7). 259.3 Yards (47th), 62.5% fairways (36th), 76.4% greens in regulation (2nd), 41.2% scrambling (37th), 1.78 putts per GIR (19th)
- 2018 Panasonic: Khalin H Joshi (-17). 315.5 Yards (4th), 55.4% fairways (35th), 73.6% greens in regulation (14th), 73.7% scrambling (2nd), 1.70 putts per GIR (21st)
- 2017 Panasonic: Shiv Kapur (-17). 298.8 Yards (13th), 66.1% fairways (37th), 66.7% greens in regulation (39th), 83.3% scrambling (2nd), 1.54 putts per GIR (1st)
- 2016 Panasonic: Mukesh Kumar (-10). 268.8 Yards (39th), 92.9% fairways (1st), 63.9% greens in regulation (28th), 69.2% scrambling (10th), 1.48 putts per GIR (1st)
- 2016 Indian Open: SSP Chawrasia (-15). 253.6 Yards (65th), 66.1% fairways (29th), 63.9% greens in regulation (34th), 84.6% scrambling (1st), 1.59 putts per GIR (2nd)
- 2015 Indian Open: Anirban Lahiri (-7). 278.3 Yards (24th), 58.9% fairways (44th), 63.9% greens in regulation (45th), 53.8% scrambling (31st), 1.61 putts per GIR (1st)
Length has proven to be of little or no advantage around Delhi GC – SSP Chawrasia was regularly the shortest hitter on Tour back in the day, and any track where he’s picked up silverware certainly won’t be a bomber’s paradise. The onus is very much on short game expertise once fairways are found, with scrambling and putting stats dominating.
Strokes Gained: From a Strokes Gained perspective, the most consistent statistic last year was SG Approach, however with no SG Tee to Green stats captured 12 months ago these stats should be considered accordingly:
- 1st: Tommy Fleetwood. T: 18th; A: 3rd; ATG: 4th; P: 32nd
- 2nd: Keita Nakajima. T: 35th; A: 6th; ATG: 36th; P: 2nd
- 3rd: Thriston Lawrence. T: 2nd; A: 25th; ATG: 9tht; P: 52nd
- 3rd: Shane Lowry. T: 25th; A: 2nd; ATG: 40th; P: 17th
- 3rd: Alex Fitzpatrick. T: 32nd; A: 31st; ATG: 5th; P: 8th
Key: T: SG Off the Tee; A; SG Approach; ATG: SG Around the Green; P: SG Putting.
Current Form: Despite this course having hosted events at various levels in the past decade, each of our winners had at least one top-20 finish in their last five starts, and for 9 of the 11 it was actually a top-10 – including Tommy Fleetwood who had won the FedEx Cup just a few weeks before:
- 2025: Tommy Fleetwood: 41/4/16/MC/2/34/16/3/4/1/46/21
- 2024: Ajeetesh Sandhu: WD/MC/MC/32/MC/29/MC/MC/MC/16/26/MC
- 2023: Miguel Tabuena: 52/64/MC/67/35/51/51/19/17/13/8/22
- 2022: Nitithorn Thippong: 15/MC/MC/2/36/36/MC/48/4/MC/4/MC
- 2021: Viraj Madappa: MC/3/6/10/11/15/2/34/29/6/MC/7
- 2018: Khalin H. Joshi: MC/32/13/43/13/42/6/6/28/56/MC/41
- 2017: Shiv Kapur: MC/MC/1/2/41/48/34/MC/20/20/23/29
- 2016: Mukesh Kumar: 35/9/16/31
- 2016: S.S.P. Chawrasia: 17/59/73/46/20/14/7/38/5/MC/MC/MC
- 2015: Chiragh Kumar: 55/MC/39/55/28/28/15/42/42/MC/2/MC
- 2015: Anirban Lahiri: 3/33/MC/1/52/28/2/15/6/50/1/21
Course Form: SSP Chawrasia has won here 3 times and Anirban Lahiri 4 times, with the most recent winner Yuvraj Sandhu also boasting a strong record on this course. Tommy Fleetwood’s sole effort here before his win last year had come 9 years beforehand though, so it’s debatable how much of the local event form matters with higher-class players descending on Delhi this week:
- 2025: Yuvraj Sandhu: MC/4/6/WD/3/MC
- 2025: Tommy Fleetwood: 67
- 2024: Ajeetesh Sandhu: 3/62/27/MC/MC/15/38/MC/MC/44/45/23/2/3/2
- 2023: Miguel Tabuena: 30/MC/MC/48/MC/WD/63/58
- 2022: Nitithorn Thippong: MC
- 2021: Viraj Madappa: 39
- 2018: Khalin H. Joshi: 70/MC/11/MC/61/MC/MC/16/MC/7/56
- 2017: Shiv Kapur: 45/35/8/21/38/2/3/MC/34/4/4/13/68/10/MC
- 2016: Mukesh Kumar: 27/26/6/MC/10/5/6/5/29/MC/6/12/5/42/14/34/19/43/MC/MC/31/48/35/16/31
- 2016: S.S.P. Chawrasia: 43/22/23/2/9/1/MC/4/12/7/MC/27/32/5/2/4/1/2
- 2015: Chiragh Kumar: MC/10/38/29/MC/27/47/MC/2/MC/21/38/4/12/15/39
- 2015: Anirban Lahiri: MC/MC/MC/MC/6/1/15/1/8/1/23/2/8
A short, quirky course where driver is seldom used may not appeal to some of the more modern golfers here this week, and with a number making their course debut it remains to be seen how some of the superstars will fare.