Out of the Rough: Hero Indian Open (2025)

The DP World Tour is set to play its final tournament before a three week-hiatus, that includes a break for the Masters Tournament, in this week’s Hero Indian Open.

The DP World Tour will follow suite of the HotelPlanner Tour, who have spent the last two weeks in India, for a stop of their own in the country.

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 challenge does not get any easier as last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic played at the Laguna National Golf Resort in Singapore on what is regarded as one of the toughest tracks in all of Asia. The Gary Player Course is regarded as one of the toughest tests in all of professional golf.

The Field

This week’s field will undoubtedly be the best field that this event has ever seen.

Sixteen winners from across the last two seasons of the DP World Tour are set to tee it up this week, including defending champion Keita Nakajima.

Nakajima held off Veer Ahlawat, Sebastian Soderberg and Johannes Veerman by four strokes to claim the title a season ago. All of which will be back this week in an attempt to better their placement from last year.

Nakajima is fresh off an impressive second place finish at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic.

Marcel Siem, the 2023 winner of this event, too will be back this week in an attempt to win his second Hero Indian Open title. 

Ryggs Johnston, Veerman, John Parry and Calum Hill round out the list of 2025 DP World Tour winners to be teeing it up this week.

Other notable names teeing it up this week include Matthew Jordan, Jorge Campillo, Joost Luiten, Adrien Saddier and Francesco Laporta.

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 opposed to what we saw last week in a rain shortened 54-hole Porsche Singapore Classic, the weather looks clear this week. There is a zero-percent chance of precipitation across all four days. Winds will begin at nine miles-per-hour on Thursday before peaking at 13 miles-per-hour for both Saturday and Sunday. Winds will settle down to ten miles-per-hour for Sunday. Temperatures will begin at a scorching 95-degrees on Thursday before dipping to 87-degrees on Friday and 86-degrees on Saturday. Temperatures will then rise to 89-degrees on Sunday.

Key Stats

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

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Scrambling

• Bogey Avoidance

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Total Driving

Betting Card

Francesco Laporta (+3300)

Laporta has been playing some great golf as of late on the DP World Tour. He’s fresh off a 28th place finish at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic and placed 19th at the Joburg Open. Beyond that, he also placed 21st at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and 13th at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship. He’s played this event each of the past two seasons as well, placing 26th a year ago and 32nd in 2023. He is currently 13th on Tour in bogey avoidance, 14th in scrambling, 23rd in SG: TTG, 26th in SG: OTT, 36th in both SG: APP and GIR%, 57th in total driving and 67th in SG: PUTT. In other terms, he’s above average in each of the eight statistical categories I took into consideration this week. 

Brandon Robinson-Thompson (+4000)

I seem to have a Brandon Robinson-Thompson problem as of late but I’m fine with that. He continued his good run of form last week with a 20th place finish at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Prior to that he placed seventh at the Joburg Open, 41st at the Magical Kenya Open, third at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and eighth at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship. He is currently ninth on Tour in GIR%, 11th in bogey avoidance, 12th in SG: PUTT, 18th in scrambling, 27th in total driving, 38th in SG: APP, 41st in SG: TTG and 70th in SG: OTT. Like Laporta, Thompson-Robinson is above average in each of the eight statistical categories I took into consideration this week. He’ll be making his tournament debut here this week.

John Parry (+4500)

Winning multiple events on the DPWT in the same season is something so few people do, but if someone is to do it, it’s Parry. He won three times on the Challenge Tour a season ago. He offers insane value this week at +4500, especially with his current form. He placed 36th last week at the Porsche Singapore Classic. He did miss the cut at the Joburg Open but prior to that placed 25th at the Investec South African Open Championship, second at the Magical Kenya Open and 21st at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He won the AfrAsia Mauritius Open earlier this season and placed second at the Alfred Dunhill Championship as well. Parry is currently fourth on Tour in both SG: APP and bogey avoidance, fifth in SG: TTG, 11th in scrambling, 23rd in GIR%, 65th in total driving, 66th in SG: OTT and 84th in SG: PUTT. He’s played this event each of the past two seasons as well, making the cut both times. He’s crossed the finish line once already, why not again?

Marcel Schneider (+6000)

There’s something about this course and event that correlates directly to success by German golfers. Marcel Siem won here in 2023 with Yannik Paul the runner-up. Alexander Knappe also placed sixth that year. Last year, Paul placed tenth with Jannik De Bruyn and Maximilian Rottluff placing 13th. With that being said, I’m going with Schneider here this week who placed 21st here a season ago. Schneider is currently 19th on Tour in GIR%, 27th in SG: TTG, 28th in SG: OTT, 50th in SG: PUTT, 52nd in SG: APP, 54th in bogey avoidance, 74th in total driving and 102nd in scrambling. Schneider did miss the cut last week at the Porsche Singapore Classic but prior to that placed 13th at the Magical Kenya Open, 14th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and eighth at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship. 

Marcus Armitage (+9000)

When it comes to Armitage, he’s either in contention or he misses the cut, there’s no inbetween. Over his last five events he placed fifth at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic and second at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship but missed the cut in the other three events he played. He played here in 2023 where he also missed the cut. Armitage is currently third on Tour in scrambling, fifth in bogey avoidance, 15th in SG: TTG, 23rd in SG: APP, 47th in SG: PUTT, 104th in GIR%, 116th in total driving and 123rd in SG: OTT. We just need to hope this is another pop week for Armitage.