New Delhi: Some of Asia’s best and brightest young stars will return for the second edition of the DGC Open, which now has on offer a massive USD 750,000 prize purse, 50 per cent more than the inaugural edition.
The Asian Tour event, to be staged from March 16-19, 2023, falls in the first quarter of a packed schedule of the Tour and will see the strongest Asian Tour full-field event ever witnessed in India. It includes 5 among the current Top-10 of the Asian Tour Order confirming their participation.
Additionally, a big number of players who have won in the last few seasons and youngsters who have grown wings and begun making a mark will also take part at the iconic Delhi Golf Club.
With current form always a big hook for tournaments, seven players who have won titles in the last two seasons will be here including the defending champion, Nitithorn Thippong, who besides winning the DGC Open presented by Mastercard also won the highly-rated International Series Singapore title.
The current crop of highly talented stars includes Sadom Kaewkanjana, currently third on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, besides Gunn Charoenkul (4th), Berry Henson (5th), Suradit Yongcharoenchai (6th) and Phachara Khongwatmai (10th). In addition, there are four others in Top-20 and 11 more, including the defending champion Nitithorn, in the Top-50.
This star-studded list will be supplemented by as many eight foreign players who have previously won in India, so Indian conditions will no longer be new to them. Further, almost 10 Indians, who have won Asian Tour events at home, many of them at this very course, will tee up.
Several legends of the game, including Thaworn Wiratchant (twice), Jyoti Randhawa and Scott Hend, who have won Asian Tour Order of Merit, will be present alongside the likes of Chapchai Nirat, who set a Tour record of 32-under in a 72-hole tournament in India in 2009.
The home challenge is always something spectators and local fans look forward to and they will be headed by Gaganjeet Bhullar, who in late 2022 became the first Indian to win 10 Asian Tour titles when he won the Mandiri Indonesia Open. Bhullar, whose only international win at home came in a Challenge Tour event, is looking for his maiden Asian Tour success at home.
–IANS