Hero Indian Open golf betting preview and tips
David John has four picks for this week's Hero Indian Open at DLF G&CC just outside of Delhi.
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The Hero Indian Open is the last event until Morocco in a month for the European Tour’s middle-tier players as home favourite Anirban Lahiri heads the betting at a new venue – the DLF G&CC on the outskirts of New Delhi.
It has staged events like the Johnnie Walker Classic, Avantha Masters and the odd Indian Open over the past decade but a new course will be in operation here designed by Gary Player measuring over 7,600 yards and opened in October 2015.
It looks a bit of a brute too winding between water hazards and canyons with the 16th hole a par three of over 250 yards and long closing par five that stretches to around 600 yards.
“It is more of a parkland and European-style layout,” said Lahiri, who will be playing it for the first time when he arrives.
“There are more open, longer holes and not as demanding off the tee as Delhi Golf Club so it might not be dominated so much by the Indian players.”
His last point is very significant so event specialists like SSP Chawrasia and Siddukur, who enjoy fiddling their way around the previous host course in between the hawthorn bushes are going to face a somewhat different examination.
Lahiri took the title two years ago and his price is a reflection of the fact he is by the far the most likely to put up the strongest challenge from the home contingent.
I do not think it will be long before he is established again inside the world’s top 50 and his ability is more than good enough to continue with his quest on the PGA Tour, where he has spent plenty of time already in the early part of 2017.
“My game is going in the right direction and I am playing well,” he said after his recent T11 in Florida at the Honda Classic.
“I just feel the putter has been really cold but there is a good week just around the corner.”
He was not a million miles away either in Malaysia last month and although I normally like to avoid the obvious short ones, I would not put anyone off having a saver on the field’s classiest performer.
I shall return to the European angle made by Lahiri a bit later but my first two selections are Thai stalwarts Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Prom Meesawat.
Compatriot and rising teenage star Phachara Khongwatmai attracted plenty of attention reaching the final of the World Super 6 Perth and you would expect him to continue on an upward curve but I am keener on a more established duo this time around.
Aphibarnrat has won three times already on the European Tour but not since the summer of 2015 in Scotland and that relatively lengthy spell without a title has seen him drop out of the top 50 in the world.
In a bid to get back on track, he has recently started working with new coach Pete Cowen in a bid to improve his ball striking and the early signs were very good with a couple of excellent finishes in Abu Dhabi (T4) and Qatar (T9).
Two missed cuts followed in Dubai (awful weather) and Malaysia so any changes he is making remain a work in progress and I am going to gamble that a competitive break for a month to iron out a few issues on the range will have done some good.
He said: “I want to take a next step towards my goal and even if I make the wrong decision, there is nothing to lose. I am willing to take a risk.
“I will play mostly on the European Tour this year and hope to start winning again in order to restore my confidence.”
This is a really good place for Aphibarnrat to resume against a field of moderate strength while his previous record in India is excellent and includes his first victory as a professional in 2011 at the SAIL Open in Delhi.
Meesawat has never really fulfilled his potential on the European Tour but there is still plenty of time despite having seemingly been on leaderboards for an absolute eternity.
He is still only in his early 30s but it is likely to be a co-sanctioned event of this nature where he will finally get the breakthrough considering his vast experience playing around Asia since his teens.
Like Aphibarnrat, he has accrued some eyecatching form over the years in India and I think the switch for this event to a course which is less restrictive off the tee will be in his favour.
He does arrive on the back of a couple of missed cuts but the pick of his form from the backend of 2016 and early 2017 puts him in the mix and well worth a chance at 80/1.
Referring back to Lahiri’s theory, if this week does suit the Europeans more, the two I quite like are Max Kieffer and Nacho Elvira.
The latter continues to put himself in decent position to gain a maiden victory on the European Tour having come close 12 months ago when losing out in a play-off to Jeunghun Wang at the Trophee Hassan II.
He went on to finish T3 in Italy as his best season took him right through to the DP World Championship in Dubai last November and the new year has started with some promise as well with a couple of good finishes in the desert.
One of those was in Qatar where he held the lead at halfway and was still poised ahead of the closing 18 holes but a rough front nine took him out of the equation before he dug in with six birdies heading to the clubhouse which rather rescued the situation.
All the recent interviews I have read suggest the Spaniard is pleased with his game and it is just the learning process is perhaps taking longer than expected but another opportunity should present itself sooner rather than later.
Tied second at this tournament after two rounds in 2016, he found all sorts of trouble in the bushes on the way to a third-round 79 so he too should prefer this venue if the driver does start to spray a little off-course.
Kieffer was a model of consistency in 2015 as he played 28 stroke-play events and missed the cut on just two occasions on the way to a 55th place on the Race To Dubai.
He has not been able to manage quite that level since as he, like Elvira, bids to win on the European Tour for the first time, but there were signs last week in Pretoria he was starting to run into some form with three decent rounds after an opening 73 to clamber inside the top 20.
He finished T15 at Delhi Golf Club last year, while I will play the ‘positive memories’ card on him this week as his sole victory on the Challenge Tour came in this country in 2012 at the Gujarat Kensville Challenge.
Elvira has just turned 30 and Kieffer is 26 but have been around the block enough times to seriously fancy their chances of a good week and both can be supported in those new top-seven markets.
Where to watch on TV: Sky Sports
Posted at 1945 GMT on 06/03/17.
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