March date for a star studded DGC Open

January 11, 2023: A galaxy of Asian Tour stars led by a strong homegrown contingent, will headline the second edition of The DGC Open presented by Mastercard. The event will be held at the venerable Delhi Golf Club from March 16-19, 2023.

The tournament, which in its very inaugural year was voted as the third best event on the 20-event schedule of the Asian Tour in the ‘Players Tournament of the Year’, will also see a massive enhancement of the prize purse, which goes up USD 500,000 to USD 750,000, a 50% increase in the prize money.

The event last year was won by Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong, who had dashed Indian hopes as he pipped Ajeetesh Sandhu to the post by edging him out in a playoff after a thrilling finish. Since then, he has added a win from the International Series Singapore and finished fourth on the year-end Asian Tour Order of Merit. Nitithorn is all set to return this year as well as he looks to defend his title.

The field will have 132 players and players from around 25 countries are expected for the week.

“As the home of Indian golf with such a rich history and legacy, Delhi Golf Club has always believed in promoting excellence in golf and when we embarked on the journey of constituting our own Asian Tour event last year, it was a step in that direction. It is really exciting to see The DGC Open presented by Mastercard growing and becoming bigger in its second edition with increased prize money. I would like to thank Mastercard India for their continued support and Asian Tour for being wonderful partners,” said KK Bajoria, President, Delhi Golf Club”.

Indian players will look forward to the event as it gave them a lot of success with Ajeetesh Sandhu, a former winner on Asian Tour, coming close to adding a second Asian Tour title to his collection last year. He was runner-up while Gaganjeet Bhullar was fourth. Bhullar later in the season, became the first Indian to amass 10 titles on the Asian Tour, when he won the Mandiri Indonesia Open. Bhullar was also the top Indian on the Asian Tour Order of Merit at 14th position.

“Mastercard’s philosophy is to engage with cardholders’ passions the world over. Sports such as golf have passionate followership in India. We are privileged to be the sponsors for the DGC Open for the second year, and we look forward to an excellent association with the iconic club,” said Gautam Aggarwal, Division President, South Asia, Mastercard.

The Delhi Golf Club has been called the “Home of Indian Golf” and has hosted international events for more than half a century, going back to 1964. Its products include a host of Arjun Award winners, Asian Games gold medallists like Shiv Kapur, and numerous Asian Tour winners.

It hosted the first Indian Open, the 1982 Asian Games and is renowned for its junior development programmes, which have given birth to many stars. It has also been at the forefront of promotion of women’s golf, having hosted several international events as well.

“The DGC Open presented by Mastercard is turning out to be a marquee event both in the Indian golf calendar as well as on the Asian Tour,” said Raj Khanna, Captain, Delhi Golf Club. “With the prize money increasing from US$500,000 last year to US$ 750,000 this year, the Delhi Golf Club is playing a key role in promoting high quality golf in India and encouraging the Indian youth to greater efforts towards success in an Olympic sport.”

India has more than a dozen players on the Asian Tour who have a full Tour card for the world’s third largest Tour, which will have close to USD 50 million in prize purse in 2023 with its schedule including a dozen International Series events and full field Tour events.