Indian Open: Penge a fair price to putt his way to success at 69/1

• Hot Putting the key to victory at DLF

• Read my Hosuton Open preview here

• The Masters starts on April 10. Read Dave Tindall's guide to the 2025 Masters here!

---

Tournament History

The Hero Indian Open was first staged back in 1964 and won by Australian legend, Peter Thompson. The tournament was the brainchild of Thompson and he went on to win it twice more, in 1966 and 1976. It became an Asian Tour event in 1970, and it was co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour for the first time in 2015.

After two years at the intricate and challenging Delhi Golf Course, the tournament moved to the Gary Player Course at the DLF Golf and Country Club in 2017 when Shiv Chawrasia made a successful title defence, despite the change in venues.

Matt Wallace and Stephen Gallacher won the next two editions before the pandemic caused a three-year hiatus. 

It was a German one-two when the tournament returned to the schedule in 2023, with Marcel Siem beating Yannik Paul by a stroke, and Japan's Keita Nakajima won last year's edition easily by four strokes.

---

Venue

The Gary Player Course, DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurgaon, India

---

Course Details

Par 72, 7,416 yards
Stroke index in 2024 - 72.37

The Gary Player Course only opened in 2015 and we were very much in the dark when the tournament was first staged here.

With an advertised length of in excess of 7,600 yards it looked far too long for many pros, including the defending champ, Shiv Chawrasia, who is notoriously short off the tee, but they messed about with the yardage by using different tees, ignoring the Championship ones, and by round four it played to just a smidgen over 7000 yards.

Chawrasia cruised to a successful defence by seven strokes, leaving many of us confused and angry. How could someone averaging only 280 off the tee could win on a course measuring more than 7,600 yards? The answer was simple really. When the course doesn't measure anywhere close to that!

It's a traditional par 72 layout with the standard 12 par fours, four par threes and four par fives.

The course is entirely Bermuda. The fairways are narrow with some undulation and the greens are large and undulating.

This is a gimmicky track and danger seems to lurk almost everywhere.

In the first two editions here, only three players played all 72 holes without making at least one double-bogey and the winner in 2019, Stephen Gallacher, made a quadruple-bogey eight at the seventh in round four.

Water is in play on seven holes in total - one, five, six, eight, nine, 16 and 18.

It's a really tough test and only seven players bettered par in tricky conditions in 2017.

---

Weather Forecast

---

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 7:30 on Thursday (UK time)

---

Last Seven Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2024 - Keita Nakajima -17 50.049/1
2023 - Marcel Siem -14 50.049/1
2020 - 2022 - No event
2019 - Stephen Gallacher -9 200.0199/1
2018 - Matt Wallace -11 (Playoff) 85.084/1
2017 - Shiv Chawrasia -10 90.089/1
2016 - Shiv Chawrasia -15 40.039/1
2015 - Anirban Lahiri -7 (Playoff) 8.07/1

---

What Will it Take to Win the Indian Open?

Here are the traditional stats for the top-five and ties in all five previous editions of the event staged at the Gary Player Course. 

2017
SSP Chawrasia -10 - DD: 67, DA: 12, GIR: 31, SC: 1, PA: 7
Gavin Green -3 - DD: 60, DA: 28, GIR: 31, SC: 45, PA: 1
Scott Jamieson -2 - DD: 16, DA: 7, GIR: 3, SC: 55, PA: 5
Matteo Manassero -2 - DD: 58, DA: 12, GIR: 10, SC: 7, PA: 43
Rafa Cabrera-Bello -1 - DD: 21, DA: 41, GIR: 4, SC: 57, PA: 23
Anirban Lahiri -1 - DD: 11, DA: 49, GIR: 20, SC: 54, PA: 8
Carlos Pigem -1 - DD: 26, DA: 35, GIR: 1, SC: 44, PA: 13 

2018
Matt Wallace -11 - DD: 16, DA: 8, GIR: 20, SC: 5, PA: 5
Andrew Johnson -11 - DD: 15, DA: 24, GIR: 2, SC: 1, PA: 4
Sihwan Kim -8 - DD: 63, DA: 8, GIR: 5, SC: 2, PA: 33
Pablo Larrazabal -7 - DD: 9, DA: 45, GIR: 17, SC: 28, PA: 32
Matthias Schwab -7 - DD: 11, DA: 8, GIR: 1, SC: 25, PA: 13 

2019
Stephen Gallacher -9 - DD: 33 DA: 49, GIR: 17, SC: 43, PA: 1
Masahiro Kawamura -8 - DD: 11, DA: 59, GIR: 28, SC: 5, PA: 20
Jorge Campillo -7 - DD: 14, DA: 10, GIR: 17, SC: 5, PA: 24
Christiaan Bezuidenhout -6 - DD: 21, DA: 49, GIR: 17, SC: 17, PA: 42
Julian Suri -6 - DD: 2, DA: 49, GIR: 25, SC: 34, PA: 30 

2023
Marcel Siem -14 - DD: 5 DA: 13, GIR: 2, SC: 44, PA: 12
Paul Yannik -13 - DD: 9, DA: 41, GIR: 1, SC: 1, PA: 25
Joost Luiten -12 - DD: 21, DA: 6, GIR: 4, SC: 19, PA: 11
Jorge Campillo -8 - DD: 7, DA: 9, GIR: 14, SC: 19, PA: 1
Kazuki Higa -8 - DD: 34, DA: 13, GIR: 9, SC: 2, PA: 43

2024
Keita Nakajima -17 - DD: 17 DA: 45, GIR: 20, SC: 54, PA: 1
Veer Ahlawat -13 - No Stats
Sebastian Soderberg -13 -12 - DD: 28, DA: 4, GIR: 6, SC: 41, PA: 3
Johannes Veerman -13 - DD: 42, DA: 35, GIR: 1, SC: 3, PA: 46
Gavin Green -12 - DD: 22, DA: 20, GIR: 6, SC: 55, PA: 3
Jeong Weon Ko -12 - DD: 3, DA: 20, GIR:20, SC: 25, PA: 31
Romain Langasque -12 - DD: 55, DA: 9, GIR: 11, SC: 45, PA: 12
Matteo Manassero -12 - DD: 59, DA: 27, GIR: 52, SC: 9, PA: 11 

DD - Driving Distance
DA - Driving Accuracy
GIR - Greens In Regulation
SC - Scrambling
PA - Putting Average

Although a long track on paper, big hitters have only come to the fore in one of the five editions, in 2023. 

Greens In Regulation and Scrambling have been key stats but a hot putter is essential and 12^th is the worst any of the five winners have ranked for Putting Average. 

---

Is There an Angle In?

Although a four-time winner on the Japan Tour and a former world number one amateur, last year's winner went against the grain given he was only 23 and he may prove to be a bit of a one-off in the fullness of time.

Eddie Pepperell, who was tied for the lead at halfway in 2017, described the course as designed by Satan! Going on to say.  "That's the most stressful three-under-par I think I've ever shot. Not because I played badly. I played really, really well. Literally every shot, something can go wrong. It's going to be a long week mentally more than anything. It's quite a walk and mentally it will be very draining to stay up there, if you're up there the whole week in contention. You've really got to take some pressure off yourself."

And the 2018 winner, Matt Wallace, had this to say. "Every hole is a double-bogey waiting to happen."

Patience and a really good temperament are going to be the keys to success this week. Anyone getting remotely frustrated with the course could soon find themselves out of contention and an ability to ride the bad breaks and remain on an even keel will be crucial.

The first two course winners are multiple event winners, and the two course winners before Nakajima were both veterans.

---

Is There an Identikit Winner?

Europeans have won three of the last four editions, but the home contingent had a fine record before the venue switch and an Indian has won 12 of the last 30 renewals. 

The first three course winners were matched at a triple-figure price before the off and the last two winners have been 50/151.00 shots, so it's been a great event for outsiders since the switch in venues.

---

Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Keita Nakajima - led by four 1.75/7
2023 - Marcel Siem solo second - trailing by one 3.412/5
2019 - Stephen Gallacher solo 4^th - trailing by three 20.019/1
2018 - Matt Wallace -tied for the lead 6.05/1
2017 - Shiv Chawrasia - leading by two 1.84/5

---

In-Play Tactics

Nakajima won with ease 12 months ago, trading at odds-on as early as Friday but this quirky track is perfect for trading in-running and we've seen plenty of drama.

Chawrasia also coasted to victory in 2017 with his inexperienced closest challengers wilting on Sunday so that was a very straightforward finish too but we witnessed all sorts of drama in the next three editions...

Matt Wallace, who was an 80.079/1 chance before the off, drifted to 270.0269/1 in-running, but he looked as though he'd taken control of the tournament going into the back-nine on Sunday and he was matched at a low of 1.182/11 but everything changed in the space of a couple of minutes. 

Wallace hit a poor tee-shot into the rough on the par three 16th and an even worse recovery shot that flew the green and found a nasty spot in the greenside bunker, just as Andrew Johnston birdied the equally tough 17th when trailing by two. 

Wallace was a long odds-on shot to make a double-bogey on 16 so with the tough 17th still to play, it looked like Johnston would play the par five 18th with at least a one-shot lead and the market reacted. 

Johnston was matched at a low of 1.011/100 for more than £5k! 

That was a nasty case of fat fingers by someone, but he was also matched for plenty at around the 1.21/5 mark - which didn't look ridiculously short given the situation. 

Wallace eventually beat Johnston in extra time but the first two home weren't the only two to trade at odds-on - Emiliano Grillo, who eventually finished sixth, traded at 1.695/7 on Friday morning and we witnessed all sorts of drama in 2019 too. 

The eventual winner, Stephen Gallacher, who had been tied for the lead with Julian Suri after round one, looked like he'd blown his chance a few times. A second round 74 left him with plenty of work to do (seven off the lead at halfway) and he drifted all the way out to over 200.0199/1 when he looked like his chance had gone completely after the quadruple-bogey eight on the seventh hole in round four having had to play five off the tee!

Suri birdied eight and nine shortly after Gallacher's gaff and the American was matched at just 1.162/13 as he looked to be assuming command, but long-odds-on players got their fingers burnt when Suri made a quad of his own on the ultra-tough 14^th. And that wasn't the end of the market carnage!

Jose Campillo looked like he was going to benefit from sorry Suri's slip-up but he failed to birdie the par five 18th after a great drive and moments after he'd posted an eight-under-par tournament total, and been matched at just 1.21/5, his score was changed from a six-under-par 66 to a five-under-par 67!

Japan's Masahiro Kawamura, who hit a low of 2.166/5, salvaged a par at the last having driven out of bounds to finish one in front of Campillo but Gallacher rallied superbly to win by a stroke with birdies at three of the last four holes.

The 2023 renewal wasn't quite as dramatic but the runner-up, Yannik Paul, led the event by five at halfway and he was matched at a low of 1.618/13 on Sunday.

It's not at all uncommon to see at least two players trade at odds-on on the DP World Tour and we could very easily see numerous players trade low and get beat this time around too.

---

Penge can putt his way to success

The defending champion, Keita Nakajima, looks a reasonable price at around 16/117.00 and he's the only player trading at less than 30.029/1, demonstrating just how open an event this is.

If the Japanese rising star plays as nicely as he did last week in Singapore, when finishing second to Richard Mansell, he'll be in-the-mix again. But I'm happy to scan further down the list for my sole selection at a double-figure price.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Find Me a 100 Winner column but for now my sole selection is England's Marco Penge, who looks over-priced at 70.069/1 given he's no bigger than 50/151.00 on the High Street.

It's been a rocky couple of months for the 26-year-old Penge, who won twice on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2023 to gain promotion to the DP World Tour.

After holing a five-foot birdie putt to make the weekend at the Genesis Championship in Korea at the end of October, he shot 69-67 over the weekend to finish tied for 22^nd and 110^th in the Race to Dubai Standings which meant he claimed the last place on this season's tour.

He ranked first for Putting Average when 20^th in the Kenya Open, one week before he finished third in the South African Open, which earned him a place in the Open Championship in July, and he finished tied for 19^th at the Joburg Open the following week.

He finished only 49^th at the Singapore Classic last week after a week off, thanks to a slow start on Thursday (shot 73 to sit tied for 83^rd), but this place should suit him perfectly.

He's monstrously long off the tee if they do lengthen the track and he putts well week after week.

He sat 13^th with around to go here on debut last year before a 77 on Sunday saw him slip to 37^th place. But that performance came at a time when his game was in disarray.

He'd missed his previous four cuts, and six of his previous seven, and he also missed 13 of his next 16 cuts after his appearance here so we can see why he struggled to regain his card.

---

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

---

Read more golf tips, previews and analysis here

---