LARRAZABAL GETS THE HERO INDIAN OPEN OFF WITH A BANG, WINS HERO SHOT BEATING KAPUR IN THE FINAL

Rakesh Thapliyal

Gurugram: Pablo Larrazabal of Spain edged out Hero MotoCorp Brand Ambassador Shiv Kapur of India in a unique Hero Shot competition as the 2025 Hero Indian Open got off in an exciting manner. Eight players battled it out in a special competition which was a test of skills and distance control.

Apart from the winner Larrazabal and runner-up Kapur, the other competitors were ⁠Dr Pawan Munjal, Executive Chairman Hero MotoCorp; ⁠defending champion Keita Nakajima; 2024 HIO runner-up Veer Ahlawat; the 2023 Hero Indian Open winner, ⁠Marcel Siem; Daniel Hillier and ⁠Rafa Cabrera-Bello.

The final in which Larrazabal and Kapur made the grade, required the players to display a combination of three Skills where players were awarded for distance control. Players were to inform the distance they would hit with the Driver, a 5-iron and the Pitching Wedge.

Each player got three shots with each club. The player winning two Skills out of three would go on to win the Final, as Larrazabal edged out Kapur to emerge victor.

The competition began with eight players in the Shootout competing in a knockout format, which meant a Round of Eight, semi-final and the final.

The Round of Eight was a Straight Drive contest with all players getting four shots each. The top 4 players hitting closest to the centre-line progressed to the Semi-Finals. After the first round, Larrazabal, Kapur, Dr Munjal and Veer Ahlawat progressed to the semi-finals.

The semi-final was a Closest to Pin contest from 125 yards. All players got six shots each with the top two progressing to the final. The two players eliminated at this stage were Dr Munjal and Ahlawat.

A large LED connected to a TrackMan4 unit provided the numbers and the results for everyone in the crowd to see and enjoy.

The total prize money was US$ 10,000 with the winner picking up US$ 4,000 and the runner-up US$ 2,000.

Wednesday will see the top players engaged in the Hero Pro-Am as the main event starts on Thursday with 138 players vying for a purse of US$ 2.25 million.