Fantasy Golf Predictions – 2017 Hero Indian Open

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2017 Hero Indian Open

The Hero Indian Open Fantasy Preview

The fractured European Tour, which enjoyed jollies in Mexico and South Africa last week, reunites in India this week and joins forces with the Asian Tour for the co-sanctioned Hero Indian Open.

This tournament has been going since the 1960s, although it has only enjoyed co-sanctioned status since 2015.  For so long based at the sumptuous Delhi Golf Club, this year’s renewal marks a move to the Gary Player Course at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: this is the event where all the local players do well, right?  Well yes; 50% of the last 12 winners have been Indian and each of the last four have graduated or are a current member of the Asian Tour.  But there may well be a shift in the paradigm this week…

Both Anirban Lahiri, the Vegas sportsbook favorite this week, and Indian pro Shiv Kapur have stated on record that this Gary Player Course has a European feel to it, with longer holes and wider fairways than the tight and testing tracks that India is known for producing.  With a ‘Western’ feel to proceedings, we would anticipate a more global leaderboard come Sunday.

Measuring 7,650 yards, this Bermuda grass track features some lengthy stretches including a 270-yard Par 3!  Significant elevation changes are the key feature here so club selection is essential, while the larger-than-average greens are undulating and are protected by some pretty steep run-off areas.

This will be the first men’s event held at the course, with its only competitive run-out so far as host of the women’s Indian Open in 2015.  The stats on the LPGA Tour are notoriously unpredictable, and of course the layout would have been much different, so DFS gamers really do have very little to work with here this week.

One thing we do know is that reigning Indian Open champion, SSP Chawrasia, is going to have a tough old time defending his crown.  The veteran is a straight but short hitter, and he is unlikely to be able to mix it with the big boys here.

So with that in mind, who’s on the team this week?  Let’s take a look…

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Our Hero Indian Open Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The 2017 Hero Indian Open Fantasy Picks

Anirban Lahiri – $11,500 – It would be foolish not to get Indian’s finest ever golf on board this week.  A multiple winner on the sub-continent, he has missed one cut in seven starts on Indian soil in a formline that reads 2-1-2-5-15-MC-3.  That’s formidable progress.

Given his pursuits on the European and PGA TOUR you would have to conclude that Lahiri has risen himself above the standard ‘one trick pony’ status of only playing well on his home continent, and that has been proven by his form of late: T11 at the Honda Classic and T25 at the CareerBuilder Challenge shows he can perform anywhere, as do top-20s on the European Tour’s Desert Swing in Dubai and Malaysia.

Yes, his salary is going to eat significantly into your cap but we expect Lahiri to be worth every cent this week.  On paper at least, he is streets ahead of the rest here.

Jorge Campillo – $9,600 – This Spanish ace is getting better and better, with his T2 at the Tshwane Open last week a fifth top-25 return from his last seven starts worldwide.

He gives it a good rip off the tee, ranking 49th on the European Tour for Driving Distance, and happily has form on Indian turf: finishing T10 in this event 12 months ago and second in the Avantha Masters back in 2012, which was actually played at this club albeit on a different course.

A bold proclamation to make would be that Campillo will break his European Tour duck this season, and victory here would push him into the top 100 of the OWGR for the first time.

Shubhankar Sharma – $8,800 – We suspect that Sharma will be one of the few players in the field with any kind of course experience – he is affiliated to this DLF Club – and clearly that could be of significant advantage.

But that’s not just a tenuous angle in.  Sharma currently sits at fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, with five top-20s in a row since the turn of the year and a trio of consecutive top-10s at the Myanmar Open (T9), Bangladesh Open (T4), and the co-sanctioned Maybank Championship (T9) in February.

He also boasts a stack of top-10s on Indian soil, but crucially he can seemingly hang with the best on longer courses – his average drive distance this term is 295 yards – and so we are happy to add him to our Indian contingent.

Phachara Khongwatmai – $8,000 – The Asian Tour may well just have a future world-class star on its hands in Khongwatmai, who incredibly won his first professional title aged just 15!

Now 17, the Thai ace has already booked his place in The Open Championship after finishing sixth in the Thailand Championship in December, and that was just the tip of the iceberg for a young star who has finished second twice in the past couple of months: first at that Singapore Open, and then at the World Super 6, where his pin-seeking ability in the matchplay section really caught the eye.

His average drive distance is 304 yards by the way, so no qualms there, and we fancy that a bright future awaits this boy; can he accelerate his ascent to stardom this week?

Gaganjeet Bhullar – $7,300 – Balance is the key in your draft this week, and seven-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar offers plenty of value at this price.

He has long been touted as a bright hope having become the first Indian to win on the European Challenge Tour in 2011, and he has certainly kept to his promise with multiple wins on home soil.

Most pleasing were the two titles he picked up at the tail-end of 2016 having suffered a debilitating wrist injury which threatened his immediate future in the game.  His driving certainly hasn’t been affected: he averages 296 yards this term, which is his longest hitting season to date.

Bhullar boasts two top-20 finishes in his last three strokeplay starts (including T18 at the Singapore Open), and just missed out on qualifying for the matchplay segment of the Super 6 in February.

Adilson Da Silva – $6,300 – We need a budget to pick to balance out our extravagance and Da Silva appears to be the best pick in this section of the salary bargain basement.

He heads to India in fine form after a T15 at the Tshwane Open followed a T14 at the Hong Kong Open in December, and that bodes well for a player who has mainly plied his trade in Asia.

The Brazilian recorded 4-12 in his last two Indian Open starts, and while there is a question mark over his lack of length off the tee he has a habit of being able to make things work on his terms.

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Cover photo via Instagram