DGC Open 2022 golf: Gaganjeet Bhullar to lead the home charge as Asian Tour returns to India
The tournament will be the first Asian Tour event in India since November 2019.
Golfers from 21 different countries, including top Indian players like Gaganjeet Bhullar, Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia, Shiv Kapur and Gaurav Ghei will be in action at the DGC Open 2022, to be held at the Delhi Golf Club’s revamped Lodhi course from March 24 to 27.
The inaugural DGC Open will be the fourth tournament on the Asian Tour 2022-23 season after the Saudi International, Royal’s Cup and International Series Thailand. The Asian Tour is the premier men’s golf tour for Asian countries, barring Japan.
It will be the first international golf tournament to be held in India since the Panasonic Open India held at Gurgaon in November 2019. The last Asian Tour event to be held at the Delhi Golf Club, meanwhile, was also a Panasonic Open in 2018 – which was won by India’s Khalin Joshi.
Since then, the iconic Lodhi course has undergone a major redesign, overseen by South African golf legend Gary Player – a nine-time Major winner.
“I would give this course a nine out of 10,” Gary Player told Times of India. “This is a historic venue and one always feels hesitant about tweaking a classic course too much...but it has worked out very well.”
Gaganjeet Bhullar, who is currently India’s best-ranked golfer on the Asian Tour 2022-23 Order of Merit at 13, will spearhead the Indian challenge at the DGC Open. Bhullar finished fifth at the International Series Thailand earlier this month and is India’s most successful player on the Asian Tour with nine wins under his belt.
Rashid Khan (32), Karandeep Kochhar (33), nephew of Olympic medallist Abhinav Bindra, are the next-two best ranked Indians in the leaderboard after Bhullar and are both playing at The DGC Open.
USA's Paul Peterson, Bangladeshi golfer Siddikur Rahman and South Africa's Ian Snyman are some of the notable international golfers in the 138-strong field for the DGC Open 2022.