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The former LIV Golfer entered the final round with a one-shot advantage over playing partners Keita Nakajima and Brandon Stone, however that was quickly diminished with a double-bogey at the first followed by another dropped shot on the third.

The 25-year-old Golf Saudi Ambassador bounced back with birdies at the sixth and ninth to make the turn one over for the day, before he regained his advantage at the top of the leaderboard with back-to-back gains at the 11th and 12th holes.

The highlight of Chacarra’s round came at the 14th, where he holed out from a tricky spot in the rough for a bonus birdie and opened up a four-shot lead. He survived a late scare on the 17th after finding himself near the long grass following his second shot, escaping with a bogey, before closing his round with a par to stroll to victory at the difficult DLF Golf and Country Club.

"Really proud and really happy"

Hear from our newest member of the winners' circle, Eugenio Chacarra #HIO25 pic.twitter.com/OkQo6c89bl

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 30, 2025

Chacarra becomes the first Spanish winner of the Hero Indian Open and he is now looking forward to building on this victory with more DP World Tour success.

Japan’s Nakajima finished in second place on two under par, while Dutchman Joost Luiten was another stroke back in third. Sweden’s Jens Dantorp finished fourth on level par, while Frenchman Adrien Saddier was two shots further back in fifth.

Main Image: Getty Images

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As the second stop on the Asian Swing, this event plays a key role in the 2025 Race to Dubai. Even more importantly, players chasing the Asian Swing Rankings know that a top-three finish at the end of the stretch will punch their ticket to the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow—a golden opportunity for those looking to make their mark on the global stage.

The tournament’s defending champion Keita Nakajima was coming in hot after a runner-up finish in Singapore last week, but he’s not the only one to watch. 2023 winner Marcel Siem, two-time champ S.S.P. Chawrasia, and Richard Mansell—fresh off his first DP World Tour win—were all taking part.

Former LIV golfer, Eugenio Chacarra claimed his maiden DP World Tour title on just his ninth appearance after recovering from a rocky start to his final round to win the 2025 Hero Indian Open by two shots thanks to a brilliant birdie burst.

Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Hero Indian Open

1 CHACARRA, Eugenio €354,641.38

2 NAKAJIMA, Keita €229,473.83

3 LUITEN, Joost €131,425.92

4 DANTORP, Jens €104,306.29

5 SADDIER, Adrien €88,451.73

6 BERRY, Joshua €62,583.77

   HALVORSEN, Andreas €62,583.77

   STONE, Brandon €62,583.77

9 MOLINARI, Edoardo €46,729.22

10 LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo €40,053.61

     PAVAN, Andrea €40,053.61

12 JORDAN, Matthew €35,881.36

13 APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech €31,396.19

     KIMSEY, Nathan €31,396.19

     LACROIX, Frederic €31,396.19

     PULKKANEN, Tapio €31,396.19

17 AHLAWAT, Veer €23,503.68

     BHULLAR, Gaganjeet €23,503.68

     CHOUHAN, Om Prakash €23,503.68

     COUSSAUD, Ugo €23,503.68

     FERGUSON, Ewen €23,503.68

     FITZPATRICK, Alex €23,503.68

     GERMISHUYS, Deon €23,503.68

     GOUVEIA, Ricardo €23,503.68

     HEBERT, Benjamin €23,503.68

     HIDALGO, Angel €23,503.68

     MERRITT, Troy €23,503.68

     ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon €23,503.68

29 COCKERILL, Aaron €18,879.44

     PARRY, John €18,879.44

31 CAMPILLO, Jorge €15,576.41

     COUVRA, Martin €15,576.41

     GREEN, Gavin €15,576.41

     JARVIS, Casey €15,576.41

     KO, Jeong weon €15,576.41

     REITAN, Kristoffer €15,576.41

     SANDHU, Ajeetesh €15,576.41

     SCRIVENER, Jason €15,576.41

     WINTHER, Jeff €15,576.41

40 CLEMENTS, Todd €12,725.37

     GUERRIER, Julien €12,725.37

     RAVETTO, David €12,725.37

43 ARMITAGE, Marcus €11,056.47

     COLSAERTS, Nicolas €11,056.47

     PAUL, Yannik €11,056.47

     SENIOR, Jack €11,056.47

     SHARMA, Shubhankar €11,056.47

48 HARDING, Justin €9,178.95

     HILL, Calum €9,178.95

     HILLIER, Daniel €9,178.95

     KINHULT, Marcus €9,178.95

52 AYORA, Angel €7,927.28

     NIENABER, Wilco €7,927.28

54 BHATTACHARYA, Shaurya €7,092.83

     LINDELL, Oliver €7,092.83

     VAILLANT, Tom €7,092.83

57 ERICKSON, Dan €6,675.60

58 FISHER, Ross €6,362.68

     ZANOTTI, Fabrizio €6,362.68

60 KAPUR, Shiv €5,841.15

      KAUL, Kshitij Naveed €5,841.15

      KNAPPE, Alexander €5,841.15

63 GALE, Daniel €5,423.93

64 BAISOYA, Sachin €5,215.31

65 SINGH SANDHU, Jairaj €5,006.70

66 TALWAR, Saptak €4,798.09

67 RAJ, Aman €4,589.48

68 THANGARAJA, N €4,380.86

Main Image: Supplied

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The 23-year-old Japanese, who spent a record 87 weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning professional in 2022, started the day at DLF Golf & Country Club four strokes ahead and extended that advantage to nine strokes with ten holes to play.

Four birdies on the front nine contributed to his healthy lead, with just a single bogey on the par four seventh. He parred the first four holes on his back nine before a double bogey on the 14th saw his lead cut to five strokes.

Nakajima recovered with a birdie on the 15th to move six strokes ahead and he then bogeyed each of his last three holes to sign for a one over par 73, finishing with a 17 under par total, four strokes clear of India’s Veer Ahlawat, Sebastian Söderberg of Sweden and American Johannes Veerman.

 

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“I’m very happy,” said Nakajima. “Winning here on DP World Tour for the first time is a new feeling all in itself, but right now just very happy.

“The win definitely gives me a lot of confidence in myself and hoping now to take what I did this week and turn it into even more wins in the future.”

The victory was his fourth in the space of just ten months, adding to three wins on the Japan Golf Tour in 2023 which saw him top the Order of Merit and earn playing rights for the 2024 Race to Dubai.

This is also the third win in seven months on the DP World Tour by players from Japan as he joins Open de France champion Ryo Hisatsune and Rikuya Hoshino, who won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February, in the winner’s circle.

Keita Nakajima – 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion

As an amateur, the Japanese superstar claimed the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2021 when it was hosted at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, his last victory as an amateur before turning professional.

Söderberg and Veerman carded matching five under par 67s to share second along with Ahlawat, who carded an eagle on the last in front of a raucous crowd on his home course to join them on 13 under par.

There is a one week break for the DP World Tour now before the first major of the year, The Masters, at Augusta National Golf Club.

Main Image: Getty Images

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The amount of double bogeys or worse we saw in round one per hole…

1st: 2⃣
2nd: 3⃣
3rd: 1⃣
4th: 4⃣
5th: 6⃣
6th: 3⃣
7th: 7⃣
8th: 1⃣4⃣
9th: 5⃣
10th: 6⃣
11th: 4⃣
12th: 3⃣
13th: 3⃣
14th: 1⃣3⃣
15th: 1⃣
16th: 8⃣
17th: 6⃣
18th: 1⃣2⃣#HIO24

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 28, 2024

14 double bogeys OR WORSE on the 8th hole alone. That is a massacre rarely seen in the world of professional golf. Sebastian Soderberg came to 8th hole riding high on six straight birdies and proceeded to hit two in the drink en route to a triple-bogey eight.

Shot 1: Water
Shot 3: Fairway
Shot 4: Water
Shot 6: Duff
Shot 7: Lip out
Shot 8: Putt made

A hole to remember for Sebastian Söderberg…#HIO24 pic.twitter.com/92CrY0ZNJQ

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 28, 2024

Rasmus Hojgaard, meanwhile, put on a short-game anti-clinic—including the rarely seen cart-part drop—before tapping in for his quadruple-bogey nine.

The 8th hole saw over 12 double bogeys or worse in round one

Rasmus Højgaard made a nine. #HIO24 pic.twitter.com/NJLJf5cOTT

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 28, 2024

We’ll see if a change in the winds (or a traumatized field) change the data on Friday, but if you’re a fan of chaos, carnage and car wrecks, you may want to get up bright and early to watch.

Image: DP World Tour

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Germany’s Paul led by five at the halfway stage but made back-to-back bogeys at the second and third on day three to open the door for the chasing pack.

The 28-year-old bounced back brilliantly, though, reeling off a hat-trick of gains at the sixth, seventh and eighth to take a three-shot lead into the turn.

After making a good par save at the 10th, last week’s Thailand Classic runner-up Paul created plenty of birdie chances over the next few holes but had to settle for pars.

There was a two-shot swing late in the day as Paul bogeyed the par-three 16th and fellow German Marcel Siem birdied the 17th up ahead, reducing Paul’s advantage to a single shot.

Paul made a fabulous birdie three at the 17th to move two clear once more but after Siem made a birdie at the last, Paul could only manage a par there to head into the clubhouse on 11-under par.

Four-time DP World Tour winner Siem, who regained his card at the Qualifying School late last year, sat alone in second place on 10-under after making six birdies and one bogey in his 67.

Dutchman Joost Luiten, who is a six-time winner, was another two shots back in third following his 68.

Midway leader Paul made a nervy start to his third round, following up a dropped shot at the second with another bogey on the par-three third having narrowly missed his par putt from the edge of the green.

He got a shot back at the sixth after sending his approach to close range and knocking in the putt.

And after making another birdie at the seventh from around five feet, Paul made it three in a row on the eighth.

Paul saved par at the 10th before giving himself two good birdie chances at the 11th and 12th but he could not convert them, and his lead was reduced to two shots by a charging Siem.

Paul made a stunning up-and-down for par at the difficult 14th after missing the green there, before passing up an outside birdie chance at the 15th.

A three-putt bogey on the 16th saw Paul drop his first shot of the week on the back nine, but he bounced straight back with a ten-foot birdie on the 17th to head to the 18th with a two-shot lead.

With Siem making a birdie from six feet at the last, sparking huge celebrations, Paul opted to lay up and he gave himself a birdie chance but had to settle for par after missing from inside ten feet.

Paul, who is aiming to become a two-time DP World Tour winner on Sunday, said: “With a five-shot lead, I knew there was still 36 holes to go. I obviously didn’t get off to the best start but I just tried to focus on myself.

“There’s so much golf yet. I just tried to stay patient. I know on this course you’re going to get some bad breaks here and there. Six, seven, eight I had a couple of nice birdies and then played pretty solid on the back nine.

“I hit a couple of great putts but they just seemed to slip by. Had some lip-outs from around eight feet, sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, it’s not in my control.

“Short game is my strength, I would say. I gave myself a lot of chances and sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. I just tried to stay positive. I’m in a great position and I’m looking forward to playing with Marcel tomorrow.

“Getting the win would be amazing. Such an iconic event here but I think that’s the hard part. You don’t want to think ahead, you want to stay in the present because 18 holes is a lot of golf left. I’ll just try to get some rest tonight and look forward to tomorrow.”

The post Yannik Paul keeps his nose in front at Hero Indian Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After four years away due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India’s national open is staging its sixth edition as a Tour event.

Hero’s relationship with the Tour began in 2015 at the Hero Indian Open and the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles are the title partner of three events on the 2023 schedule.

Bjørn, the 2018 Ryder Cup-winning captain and a 15-time winner on the DP World Tour, spoke highly of how Munjal has helped bring golf to new audiences.

“When you’ve got people like Dr Pawan who puts his heart into golf and into other sports, it’s great,” Bjørn said on the eve of the tournament. “He’s got his heart set on supporting the game of golf and other sports. These people don’t come around very often and he’s got a great love for this game.”

Earlier this year, Hero became the Title Partner of the Dubai Desert Classic, the longest-running event in the Middle East.

During the 2023 Desert Swing, Hero also supported the inaugural Hero Cup — a team match play contest which provided European players experience in the format ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Bjørn is playing in the event for the first time in five years and is excited by the week ahead as DLF Golf and Country Club plays host for the fourth time with a record prize fund of US$2 million available.

“This event, at home, is important to him, it’s close to his heart and we come here as players and we can see how much it means to him,” he added. “We went for dinner last night and he tells his stories of living in India and what it’s like, then all those things add to what this Tour is all about.

“This Tour is an international Tour and we have players from all over the world.

“We go to those corners and we appreciate being part of those different cultures and we come here to India happily, we’re grateful to be here and we’re grateful to Dr Munjal for his support.”

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By Alex Myers
Next week’s Hero Indian Open in New Delhi has been called off after a joint decision by the European Tour, the Asian Tour, the Indian Golf Union, and the tournament’s title sponsor, Hero MotoCorp. No makeup dates have been announced.

“In these difficult global circumstances, we fully understand and appreciate the recent restrictions introduced in respect of travel into India,” European Tour CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement. “As these new measures now prevent many members of both Tours being able to play in the tournament, everyone involved in the staging of the Hero Indian Open felt it was the correct decision to postpone the tournament.”

The Magical Kenya Open, which was to be played this week, was postponed last Friday. Two other European Tour events scheduled for April, the Maybank Championship and the Volvo China Open, were previously pushed back.

The Hero Indian Open became a European Tour co-sanctioned event beginning in 2015. Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher is the tournament’s defending champion.

So far, the LPGA Tour has cancelled three events, the last of which was to be played this week in China. The PGA Tour schedule has yet to be affected.

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By John Huggan
At the end of an extraordinary and ever-fluctuating day’s play on what is surely one of the game’s more extraordinary courses—the DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi—Stephen Gallacher somehow emerged as winner of the European Tour’s Hero Indian Open. The 44-year-old Scot made seven birdies in a closing 71, one under par over the Gary Player-design that some argue resembles something from Jurassic Park, to reach nine-under 279 for the week, one shot better than runner-up, Masahiro Kawamura. Spain’s Jorge Campillo was third, another stroke back.

Those rather bland numbers conceal much heartache, however. And carnage, from which even Gallacher was not immune. Courtesy of two lost balls, the eventual champion made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 456-yard seventh. Still ahead by two shots with five holes to play, overnight leader Julian Suri needed six shots to get down from just off the green at the 461-yard 14th hole, the American running up Sunday’s second quad.

Those were not the highest scores of the day though. India’s Rahil Gangjee accumulated a sextuple-bogey 11 on the 624-yard closing hole, while Jens Dantorp of Sweden finished his round of 83 with three triple bogeys—there were nine in total—on the last five holes. In all, the 70-strong field amassed nine triple-bogeys and 46 doubles in increasingly blustery conditions that only accentuated the severe contours of the endlessly eccentric and speedy putting surfaces.

Eight men, including former European No. 1 Robert Karlsson, shot in the 80s; only seven managed to break 70, Campillo’s 67 the best of those.

None of which was bothering Gallacher, whose brilliant ball-striking and three birdies over the closing four holes was in stark contrast to the destruction surrounding him. Even then though, the former Ryder Cup player had to wait to see if his score would be good enough to give him a fourth tour victory and his first since the 2014 Dubai Desert Classic. Standing on the final tee, Kawamura needed to make a birdie to tie, an eventuality made all but impossible by a drive that finished unplayable. In the end, the 25-year-old from Japan, a graduate of last year’s qualifying school, holed from 20-feet for a par-5 to clinch second spot.

“It was a bit disappointing, to begin with,” admitted Gallacher, who had his 18-year-old son, Jack, as his caddie. “I got off to a ropey start. Five off the tee on seven wasn’t good. I was pretty calm even after that hole though. There’s nothing really much you can do other than keep hitting shots and focus on the process. To see that I was only five back gave me a wee bit of encouragement. I thought Just hang in there. When I birdied 15, I saw that Julian Suri had come back and then when I got to the 16th green I was tied for the lead. I just tried to finish as strong as I could and I did that.”

Gallacher poses with his 17-year-old son, Jack, who worked as his caddie en route to victory in India. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

That he could do it with his son by his side made ending the victory draught all the more special.

“He’s a great caddie, quite chilled,” Gallacher said. “When you’re 44 you’re in the sort of twilight so it’s a big win for me. It was good to finish it out the way I did.”

The post Stephen Gallacher becomes the European Tour’s latest feel-good winner with his victory at the Hero Indian Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 32-year-old Thai, nicknamed the ‘Big Dolphin’ courtesy of his burly physique, will tee it up in the Dubai-HQed Tour’s first 72-hole event at Pattana Golf Club and Resort in Chon Buri, a 135 minute drive south-east of Bangkok, from Tuesday.

After winning three Thai Amateur Championships and the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships in 1997 and 2002, Meesawat turned pro in 2004 and landed his first pro title at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea two years later.

He has one other Asian Tour title – the 2014 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship – and has played a total of 127 European Tour events since 2013, including qualifying for the 2011 Open Championship where he missed the cut at Royal St George’s.

After losing his full playing privileges last season, the Hua Hin native is currently 92nd in the Race to Dubai standings having banked €107,697 in six 2016-17 wraparound season starts, headlined by top 15 finishes at the Australian PGA Championship (T10), Omega Dubai Desert Classic (T15) and Hero Indian Open (T13).

The son of Suthepi, the first Thai to win the Thailand Open, Meesawat came closest to a European Tour breakthrough when he dipped out in a three-way playoff for the 2013 Hong Kong Open to a Miguel Angel Jimenez birdie in the first extra hole.

Ranked 307th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Meesawat is one of 33 Thais in a field for this week’s $50,000 event including players from 25 countries. The Pattana Golf Championship is the climax to the MENA Tour’s three tournament Thailand swing and carries additional OWGR points given it is a round longer than the tour’s usual 54-hole offerings.

Switzerland’s Dubai-based Michael Harradine and Thailand’s Worathon Zeng will lead the challenge in the amateur division that has attracted nine entries. Harradine won amateur honours at last week’s Mountain Creek Open on on six-under 210 last week while Zeng had reigned supreme at the first Thailand swing event, the MahaSamutr Masters.

“We are very excited to be part of the MENA Tour. It will provide us with a great opportunity to showcase our championship course to a field which wears a global look,” said Rujirapun Juangroongruangkit, Executive Vice President of Pattana Golf Club.

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Tour, thanked the Pattana Golf Club and Resort management for supporting the event, saying: “We couldn’t have asked for a better venue to stage our landmark 72-hole tournament. I am confident it will become a permanent stop on the tour.”

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The cautious manner in which the now two-time champion, S.S.P. (Shiv Sankar Prasad) Chawrasia, played the final hole of the Hero Indian Open at the DLF Golf & Country Club aptly told the story of a somewhat wacky week and underlined the eccentricities of the Gary Player-designed layout.

Without ever leaving the fairway on the rock, rough and water-strewn 624-yard par 5, the diminutive Calcutta-native teed-off with a 3-wood, then hit sand wedge/8-iron/sand wedge to the green en-route to completing a seven-shot victory with a two-putt bogey 6.

And there’s more. On the previous hole, Chawrasia’s blind approach struck the massive rocks beyond the putting surface and rebounded safely onto the putting surface.

In contrast, his playing partner, Gavin Green of Malaysia, saw his second shot hit the railroad ties supporting the bank of a bunker and careen off into the spectacularly rocky hazard short and right of the green. Little wonder then that only seven men were under par at the end of an eventful four days in the Indian capital of New Delhi. And little wonder then that play was painfully slow, one understandably disgruntled competitor reporting that it took four hours to complete 12 holes on the rain-affected third day.

Still, none of the above should detract from the beautifully controlled performance put in by Chawrasia, one of the shorter hitters on the European circuit. That closing bogey was one of only six dropped shots recorded by the 39-year-old four-time European Tour champion. Remarkably too, all four have come both in his home country and the same city. The Delhi Golf Club was the scene of Chawrasia’s victories in the 2008 Indian Masters and 2016 Hero Indian Open. And now he has two wins at the DLF, the first the 2011 Avantha Masters.

Having predicted a winning score of 10-under-par at the beginning of the week, Chawrasia proved himself prescient as well as proficient by hitting that mark exactly with his closing 71. No one else was close. Green was alone in second place, one shot ahead of Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and former BMW PGA champion Matteo Manassero. Two of the only three players in the field ranked inside the world’s top 100—Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain and India’s Anirban Lahiri—were in the group of three tied for fifth spot.

SSP Chawrasia gained 275,828 points and made a massive jump in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, moving from 194th to 18th position as he targets a debut appearance in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship from November 16-19 at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai

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