Star-studded lineup of proven winners set for the record prize purse at Hero Indian Open 2024

•  List includes 2 winners from 2024 DPWT season
• 7 winners from 2023 and 9 from 2022 

Khel Today Bureau 

New Delhi: An impressive line-up of winners and international stars from the DP World Tour have signed up to enter the Hero Indian Open as 2024 edition of the iconic National Open starts next week.

Amongst the players who have confirmed participation in the USD 2.25 million event, which will be held from March 28-31 at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurugram, are pedigreed stars like Matteo Manassero who earlier this month ended a more than 10-year-long wait for his fifth DP World Tour with a win at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.

He is to join multiple winners like Rasmus Hojgaard, and former Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts among others. The glittering array includes India’s own Anirban Lahiri, a past champion of the Hero Indian Open from 2015, and two-time winner on the Tour, Shubhankar Sharma.

Some of the other names who have entered so far include Dutch pro Darius Van Driel, who won his maiden DPWT title at the Magical Kenya Open, after successes on the Alps and Challenge Tours in Europe.

The star cast of at least seven winners from 2023 in the entry list includes the prolific Rasmus Hojgaard, whose four wins on DPWT include the Made in Himmerland win in 2023 and others from last season’s schedule such as English duo Todd Clements (D+D Real Czech Masters) and Dale Whitnell (Scandinavian Masters), Kiwi Daniel Hillier (British Masters), Swede Simon Forsstrom (Soudal Open in Belgium), England’s Daniel Gavins (Ras Al Khaimah) and England’s Matthew Baldwin (SDC Championships).

There are nine other winners from the 2022 schedule and the roster includes England’s Matthew Jordan (Portugal), Germany’s Yannik Paul (Mallorca), Guido Migliozzi of Italy, Max Keiffer of Germany, Callum Shinkwin of England, Spaniard Adri Arnaus, Scotsman Ewen Ferguson, China’s Wu Ashun and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Almost a decade and a half ago, Manassero burst onto the global scene to become the youngest-ever DPWT winner back in 2010. He quickly racked up three more wins in the next three years and then lost his form. Once ranked as high as 25th in the world, Manassero went down the rankings but is now trending up, winning on the Alps Tour, the Challenge Tour and now the main DP World Tour.

Also coming to India is the rising New Zealand star, Kazumi Kobori, who at 22, has already picked up four wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Three of those have come in 2024.

The Hero Indian Open, born in 1964, is now six decades old and has grown into a flagship event in the region, with a prize purse that has swelled to a record USD 2.25 million. The tournament, now in its 57th edition, will be a part of the Asian Swing bringing added benefits for the Swing Champion. The Hero Indian Open will be the second of five events comprising the Asian Swing as part of the new-look 2024 Race to Dubai. The tournament will see 144 players compete for the trophy. The winner will receive a handsome US$ 382,500, the runner-up picking up US$ 247,500 and the third-place finisher pocketing US$ 141,750.

Hero MotoCorp has been the Title Sponsor of the tournament since 2005 and marks two decades of a fruitful relationship with India’s apex golfing body, the Indian Golf Union (IGU). This is also the 10th year of the tournament’s association with the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour), one of the biggest global golfing Tours. The Hero Indian Open was not held between 2020 – 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and returned to the Race to Dubai in February 2023.