Top Asian Tour stars led by defending champion Nitithorn Thippong (Thailand) and strong Indian squad spearheaded by  Ajeetesh Sandhu will headline the second edition of The DGC Open to be played at the Delhi Golf Club from March 16-19.  

The tournament, which in its very inaugural year was voted as the third best event on the 20-event schedule of the Asian Tour in the ‘Players Tournament of the Year’, will also see a massive increase of the prize purse, which goes up USD 500,000 to USD 750,000, a 50 per cent increase in the prize money. 

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The event last year was won by Nitithorn Thippong, who crushed Indian hopes as he pipped Ajeetesh Sandhu to the post by edging him out in a playoff after a thrilling finish. 

Since then, he has added a win from the International Series Singapore and finished fourth on the year-end Asian Tour Order of Merit. Nitithorn is all set to return this year as well as he looks to defend his title. 

The field will have 132 players and players from around 25 countries are expected for the week. 

Indian players will look forward to the event as it gave them a lot of success with Ajeetesh Sandhu, a former winner on Asian Tour, coming close to adding a second Asian Tour title to his collection last year. He was runner-up while Gaganjeet Bhullar was fourth.

Bhullar later in the season, became the first Indian to amass 10 titles on the Asian Tour, when he won the Mandiri Indonesia Open. He was also the top Indian on the Asian Tour Order of Merit at 14^th position. 

The Delhi Golf Club has been called the “Home of Indian Golf” and has hosted international events for more than half a century, going back to 1964. Its products include a host of Arjun Award winners, Asian Games gold medallists like Shiv Kapur, and numerous Asian Tour winners.

It hosted the first Indian Open, the 1982 Asian Games and is renowned for its junior development programmes, which have given birth to many stars. It has also been at the forefront of promotion of women’s golf, having hosted several international events as well. 

“The DGC Open presented by Mastercard is turning out to be a marquee event both in the Indian golf calendar as well as on the Asian Tour,” said Raj Khanna, Captain, Delhi Golf Club. “With the prize money increasing from US$500,000 last year to US$ 750,000 this year, the Delhi Golf Club is playing a key role in promoting high quality golf in India and encouraging the Indian youth to greater efforts towards success in an Olympic sport.” 

India has more than a dozen players on the Asian Tour who have a full Tour card for the world’s third largest Tour, which will have close to USD 50 million in prize purse in 2023 with its schedule including a dozen International Series events and full field Tour events. 

Indians’ liking for the course and The DGC Open presented by Mastercard was further strengthened by the tied-sixth place finish by three players, Mastercard Brand Ambassador Shiv Kapur, young gun Veer Ahlawat and Yuvraj Sandhu, who had a splendid season on the domestic Tour with five wins and a second place on the domestic PGTI Order of Merit.

The Delhi Golf Club course was first designed by five-time Open winner, Peter Thomson, and was later redesigned by the nine-time Major winner, Gary Player, who was present at the inaugural edition of The DGC Open presented by Mastercard. The 6,900-yard (approximately) iconic DGC is spread over 179 acres and nestled in the heart of Delhi.