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After a hiatus of nearly two-and-a-half-years, the Asian Tour is set to return to India. The inaugural DGC Open is to be held at the Delhi Golf Club here from March 24 to 27 next year.
To be staged on the newly renovated Lodhi Course and boasting off a lucrative purse of USD 500,000, the exciting new event will be one of the standout tournaments in the early part of the season on the 2022 Asian Tour calender.
"The DGC Open is a new tournament, on a newly renovated Gary Player Design course and in many respects represents a new start for everyone involved," said Manjit Singh, President of the Delhi Golf Club.
"It is an exciting opportunity for the Delhi Golf Club to play a key role in the return of international tournament golf to India. We feel it is extremely important that we set the wheels in motion to restore tournament golf in India and help the game we are all so passionate about. To commemorate this occasion Gary Player, himself, is scheduled to be present."
In the last Asian Tour event in India, Korean teenager Joohyung Kim claimed the Panasonic Open India in November 2019, while the same tournament in October of 2018 was the most recent occasion the Delhi Golf Club hosted an Asian Tour event.
The DGC Open will be promoted by the Delhi Golf Club.
The famous club will strictly adhere to the government all COVID-19 protocols to ensure a safe environment for players and staff.
"The addition of The DGC Open to our 2022 schedule is a massive boost for the Asian Tour and something we have been working very hard on behind the scenes to facilitate," said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour.
"The Delhi Golf Club – the quintessential home of golf in India – has been a regular host venue on the Asian Tour for many years. And we are extremely grateful for their continued support, which is especially important to us in these unprecedented times."
Having undergone a major overhaul in 2019, the highly-rated Lodhi course is set to pose a different challenge with its revamped greens and reshaped bunkers when the Tour returns for the first time since India's Khalin Joshi claimed his breakthrough win there in the 2018 Panasonic Open India.
The Asian Tour is in the process of completing its 2020-21 season with two season-ending events in Singapore scheduled for January -The Singapore International and the SMBC Singapore Open.
The Tour resumed play following a 20-month break caused by the pandemic in November and December last year with back-to-back events in Phuket.
Chinese Taipei's Chan Shih-chang won the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship before Phachara Khongwatmai from Thailand emerged victorious in the Laguna Phuket Championship.
The Tour will be releasing their 2022 schedule later in January before the season-opening USD 5 million Saudi International, powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, to be played at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club from February 3-6.
- With inputs from PTI
