4-time Main winner Rory McIlroy. (AFP)
New Delhi: The long-lasting Delhi Golf Membership (DGC) is about to host a $5 million DP World Tour occasion in October with former world No.1 and four-time main winner Rory McIlroy in attendance, making the upcoming Rolex Sequence occasion the costliest golf match — by way of prize cash — ever hosted by the nation.
The membership has acquired an in-principle settlement from the DP World Tour for a three-year affiliation and a proper Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) can be signed when DP World Tour’s Chief Event Enterprise Officer Ben Cowen will come visiting on January 22. A window of October 13-19 has been earmarked for the yet-to-be-named match.
“It’ll be a completely new event on the European calendar. It’s a major coup for the DGC which has been made possible by the efforts of our president Raj Khosla,” membership captain Vikram Seth stated.
“It’s a shot in the arm for the club that has not hosted a major international event for two years. Hero Indian Open, the other DP World Tour event in the country, has a prize purse of $2.25 million. So, with a $5mn prize money, we are expecting the who’s who of international golf to come to India. We have placed a special request to get Rory McIlroy to India and we are confident that he’ll show up,” he added.
Since there are not any different tournaments scheduled on the European tour in the course of the October 13-19 window, the potential of prime stars lining up in DGC seems more and more believable.
“With that kind of prize money, even the players who would have reservations about travelling to India will happily come and play,” a senior membership official stated.
The backchannel negotiations between DP World Tour and the historic membership started final October when Yuvraj Narayan, Group Deputy CEO and CFO of DP World Tour, visited DGC.
Put up its facelift by the legendary Gary Participant in 2019, the membership hosted the primary two editions of DGC Open however the Asian Tour co-sanctioned match has since did not return. “It was indeed unfortunate to let DGC Open go for whatever reasons. Earlier, we had lost the Indian Open to DLF course in Gurugram, but to get a fresh European Tour event of this magnitude will make up for all those losses,” Seth stated.
The event comes barely three weeks earlier than the scheduled Asian Tour and LIV Golf-funded $2 million Worldwide Sequence – India which could have a galaxy of LIV Tour stars on its roster, headlined by two-time main winner Bryson DeChambeau. Whether or not LIV’s foray in India had a bearing on DP World Tour’s newest affiliation with DGC is anybody’s guess however folks within the know declare the likelihood can’t be dominated out.
DP World Tour’s strategic partnership with PGTI means prime Indian golfers will get a chance to compete with the most effective in dwelling circumstances. “We will surely get some confirmed slots for the event. I will try and push for as many spots as possible for the domestic players when I meet Ben later this month,” PGTI CEO Amandeep Johl assured.
ENDS