sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi: The iconic Delhi Golf Club (DGC) is set to host a $5 million DP World Tour event in October with former world No.1 and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy in attendance, making the upcoming Rolex Series event the most expensive golf tournament — in terms of prize money — ever hosted by the country.
The club has received an in-principle agreement from the DP World Tour for a three-year association and a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed when DP World Tour’s Chief Tournament Business Officer Ben Cowen will come visiting on January 22. A window of October 13-19 has been earmarked for the yet-to-be-named tournament.
“It’ll be a completely new event on the European calendar. It’s a major coup for the DGC which has been made possible by the efforts of our president Raj Khosla,” club captain Vikram Seth said.
“It’s a shot in the arm for the club that has not hosted a major international event for two years. Hero Indian Open, the other DP World Tour event in the country, has a prize purse of $2.25 million. So, with a $5mn prize money, we are expecting the who’s who of international golf to come to India. We have placed a special request to get Rory McIlroy to India and we are confident that he’ll show up,” he added.
Since there are no other tournaments scheduled on the European tour during the October 13-19 window, the possibility of top stars lining up in DGC appears increasingly plausible.
“With that kind of prize money, even the players who would have reservations about travelling to India will happily come and play,” a senior club official said.
The backchannel negotiations between DP World Tour and the historic club began last October when Yuvraj Narayan, Group Deputy CEO and CFO of DP World Tour, visited DGC.
Post its facelift by the legendary Gary Player in 2019, the club hosted the first two editions of DGC Open but the Asian Tour co-sanctioned tournament has since failed to return. “It was indeed unfortunate to let DGC Open go for whatever reasons. Earlier, we had lost the Indian Open to DLF course in Gurugram, but to get a fresh European Tour event of this magnitude will make up for all those losses,” Seth said.
The development comes barely three weeks before the scheduled Asian Tour and LIV Golf-funded $2 million International Series – India which will have a galaxy of LIV Tour stars on its roster, headlined by two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau. Whether LIV’s foray in India had a bearing on DP World Tour’s latest association with DGC is anyone’s guess but people in the know claim the possibility cannot be ruled out.
DP World Tour’s strategic partnership with PGTI means top Indian golfers will get an opportunity to compete with the best in home conditions. “We will surely get some confirmed slots for the event. I will try and push for as many spots as possible for the domestic players when I meet Ben later this month,” PGTI CEO Amandeep Johl assured.
ENDS
