The European Tour will move on to India this week for the Hero Indian Open at the Lodhi Golf Course from the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi. This event returns after a year off in 2014 with the home contingent once again expected to have a major advantage based on their experience and familiarity. It’ll also help that they’ll have the home crowd cheering them on vociferously.
Event Details
Event: Hero Indian Open
Category: European Tour
Date: March 17-20
Location: Lodhi Golf Course, Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi, India
India’s Anirban Lahiri won this tournament in a playoff a year ago, extending the run of hometown winners to three in a row dating back to David Gleeson’s win here back in 2011. It’s no wonder that a large percentage of the betting public is eyeing him to get the job done once again. The Delhi Golf Club has hosted 11 of the last 13 renewals of this event and familiarity is expected to be among the keys to success once again this week. The question is can someone knock Lahiri off the top spot.
Past Five Winners
2015 – Anirban Lahiri -7 (Playoff)
2013 – Siddikur Rahman -14
2012 – Thaworn Wiratchant -14 (Karnataka Golf Association)
2011 – David Gleeson -20
2010 – Rikard Karlberg -11
What To Know About The Course
The fairways at the Lodhi Golf Course are very narrow and the dormant rough makes them that much more trickier to navigate. The winds will also factor in to the equation and that should make driving accuracy that much more important. The numbers from last year’s tournament show that Lahiri ranked 44th in driving accuracy a year ago, but that could be the rare exception to the rule. Putting average and scrambling will be just as important as accuracy off the tee. Lahiri ranked first in scrambling last year and it was a big reason why he came out on top. If you’re looking at golfers to bet, you’ll want to hone in on that category as a key stat for this week.
The Field
The Asian Tour players enjoyed an advantage over the Europeans in this tournament a year ago and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if that happened again. Many of the players on the Asian Tour have played this course at least two or three times over the last five years and the familiarity should help them out. The top-22 at last year’s Panasonic Open at this course featured 14 Indians including the winner Chiragh Kumar. Lahiri is the defending champion and the outright betting favorite at +750 odds. However, the next six names on the list of betting favorites are all European players and that should make for an interesting field.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Marcus Fraser over Joost Luiten
Luiten is listed behind only Lahiri among the tournament favorites this week but those odds are based more on reputation than his performances at this course. Luiten has played only once here before and that was when he missed the cut back in 2008. Meanwhile, Fraser isn’t experienced at this course either but he is an extremely accurate golfer that has all of the tools to thrive at this event. Fraser might not be a lock for the top five but he should beat out Luiten in the head-to-head matchup at this week’s Hero Indian Open.
Top Five Prediction: Anirban Lahiri
Lahiri has had plenty of success at this course including last year’s victory here so it’s somewhat of a surprise that he is still listed at +750 odds to win. Lahiri missed his first four cuts here but since then he has posted 6-1-15-1-8-1-23-2-8-1 as his form figures. There is no doubt that Lahiri is the best bet on the board to win this event outright and he should be a lock to finish in the top five at the Hero Indian Open.
Top 10 Odds To Win Hero Indian Open Preview
Anirban Lahiri +750
Joost Luiten +850
Marcus Fraser +1050
Brett Rumford +1650
Peter Uihlein +1650
Tommy Fleetwood +1650
Padraig Harrington +2050
Scott Hend +2250
Prayad Marksaeng +2550
Pablo Larrazabal +3050
Romain Wattel +3250
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