The Bullseye – Hero Indian Open

For this week’s European Tour preview, we head to India for the Hero Indian Open. The old venue, New Dehli GC, played under 7,000 yards, so some of the shorter hitting Asian Tour players excelled. Gary Player has designed a brand new course, first used last year, and it’s longer and more challenging. We thought distance would be key, but in fact it was accuracy metrics that were more critical. There was trouble lurking on every hole, and we saw some ridiculously high scores posted.

DLF Golf and Country Club measures over 7,600 yards, which is a departure from the shorter venue of years’ past. There’s a lot of rolling hills, elevation changes, water hazards, massive bunkers, and even a 273-yard par-3. That’s crazy. And from the pictures and videos we’ve seen on Twitter, the course looks pristine and scenic. Because of the leaderboard from last season, I’m going to weigh driving accuracy and greens in regulation as my most important metrics. We also need to focus on scrambling, which is really how SSP Chawrasia separated himself from the field in his 7-stroke victory last season. Anirban Lahiri, who is the biggest celebrity anytime the Tour plays in India, has stated that this course fits a more European style.

European Tour stats are notoriously unreliable, making it difficult to really pinpoint the type of players to target. There are also an influx of Indian Tour and Asian Tour players this week, making the statistical analysis doubly difficult. But here’s where I’m going to focus:

• Driving Accuracy
• Greens in Regulation
• Scrambling
• Birdie Average

And now on to the picks!

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