World ranked 75 Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, will be seeking more silverware to his collection when he tees off at the USD 2.25 million Hero Indian Open to be held from 28 to 31 March at the DLF Golf and Country Club Gurugram.

Rasmus already has four wins on the DP World Tour to his name.

Advertisement

He will be making his debut at the Hero Indian Open and hoping for a fifth career win on the DP World Tour.

He will be one of the highest-ranked players in the field, his career-best rank being 63rd.

Rasmus is coming off a glorious start to 2024 with Top-10s in three successive starts in Ras Al Khaimah, where he was second, and then T-8 in Bahrain and T-6 in Qatar.

Before that, he was an identical T-11 at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and the Dubai Invitational. His first win at the 2019 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open (part 2020 season) made him the third youngest to win a title in the DPWT and he added to that by winning the 2020 ISPS Handa UK Championship, 2021 Omega European Masters and the 2023 Made in Himmerland, held in his home country, Denmark.

A win at the Hero Indian Open would bring Rasmus closer to getting into the Top-10 of the DP World Tour rankings for 2024, which could earn him a card into the PGA Tour and join his brother Nicolai.

Incidentally, his twin brother Nicolai played last year at the Hero Indian Open and finished T-32.

Late last year Rasmus narrowly missed earning entry into the PGA Tour, while Nicolai, who won the season-ending 2023 DP World Tour Championships, moved to the PGA Tour.

Another popular name confirming his entry is Yannik Paul of Germany, who turned 30 last week.

Paul, who made his Hero Indian Open debut last year, came within a whisker of his second win on the Tour, after starting with a brilliant 65 on the first day. He shot all four rounds under par, but despite a bogey-free final round, fell one short of the eventual champion and countryman Marcel Siem.

Siem, who kept his nerve to shoot 70 and win by one shot, was looking forward to defending his title, but unfortunately injured himself and pulled out of this year’s event.

Even though Paul was unable to add to his tally of wins in 2023, the current season has begun well with two Top-10 finishes in 2024. He was T-8 at the Dubai Invitational and T-4 at Ras Al Khaimah Championships.

All top Indian stars, led by the 2015 Hero Indian Open winner, Anirban Lahiri, will be seen in action at the 4-day 72-hole event.

The 57 edition of the tournament with a record prize money of USD 2.25 million will see 144 players compete for the trophy. The winner will receive a handsome USD 382,500, the runner-up picking up USD 247,500 and the third-place finisher pocketing USD 141,750.