European Tour Fantasy Golf Predictions – Hero Indian Open

2018 Hero Indian Open Fantasy Preview

So there you have it: we completed our own ‘three-peat’ of winners on the European Tour with George Coetzee following Joost Luiten and Eddie Pepperell into the winners’ circle at the Tshwane Open last week.

We had written about Big George’s penchant for making life difficult for himself, and when he chipped out from the rough on the left-hand side of the fairway straight into the water on the right to rack up back-to-back bogeys in a nervy opening nine holes we began to wonder if the notoriously difficult South African was going to have one of his classic meltdowns.

But no: he grew stronger, and played some fantastic golf on the back nine – going round in -4 to secure a two-shot win over Sam Horsfield in second. Occasionally, backing the red-hot course horse pays off!

George Coetzee of South Africa poses with the trophy after winning…

George Coetzee of South Africa poses with the trophy after winning the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club on March 4, 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Our hopes of bagging a fourth consecutive winner at this week’s Hero Indian Open have been diminished somewhat by a rather demonic course design by Gary Player, with Pepperell – when asked on Twitter why he wasn’t playing this week – replying it was because ‘that course was designed by Satan.’

The DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi will have been enough to give anyone nightmares. This supremely difficult track is severely undulating and features huge elevation changes, with the grainy Bermuda greens featuring numerous shelves and layers. Water is in play on six holes, and with hazards at every turn it’s no wonder that some players ran up scores more akin to basketball than golf.

At last year’s renewal, just seven players finished under par and the cut was made at +6! If that wasn’t enough, Gavin Green – who finished solo second – recorded a card that featured 16 bogeys, one double bogey and one triple.

The winner was SSP Chawrasia, whose final score of -10 almost beggars belief given the conditions, and it was a historic moment for the man known as the ‘Indian Seve’ in that he successfully defended his home title. He will be looking for his own three-peat in New Delhi this week.

So what will it take to win the Indian Open this week? That’s a damn hard question to answer! Clearly, keeping your ball in play off the tee is going to be crucial, as is finding greens in regulation (so far, so obvious) or scrambling for dear life.

But the difference maker might just be with the flat stick, with Chawrasia and Green ranking first and second for Putts Per Round. That comes from decent proximity to the hole on approach and finding the right contours on these layered greens, but also in being able to read these sticky Bermuda greens. It might be worth taking on a few Indians in your draft or Asian Tour regulars as a result.

With all that in mind, who makes our draft this week?

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This Week’s Hero Indian Open Fantasy Picks & Predictions

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This Week’s Hero Indian Open Fantasy Picks

Anirbhan Lahiri – $10,600 – There is an elephant in the room this week in the shape of Shubhankar Sharma, the brilliant Indian who shone so brightly at the WGC-Mexico Championship event last week. He is in the field here and is likely to be mobbed by his home fans.

That said, on paper at least he is the most likely winner here given that, quite simply, he is the best player in the field right now. He could hose up the trophy, and at $11,400 there will be plenty of takers. But we are going to assume that after his heroics in Mexico, and the attention he will receive here, Sharma may just find it difficult to focus solely on his golf.

That may mean that another fine Indian talent, Anirbhan Lahiri, goes under the radar somewhat. The winner of this event in 2015 and T5 last year, Lahiri made 23 birdies here 12 months ago to equal the tournament best, but the errors – 15 bogeys, two doubles and one triple – ultimately cost him a shot at the title.

But it’s not beyond the pail to suggest that if he can just cut out a few of those dropped shots this week then he stands a real chance of glory.

As you may know, Lahiri has decided to leave the European and Asian Tours behind him to try his luck on the PGA TOUR full time, and so far it has worked out quite well for the 30-year-old. There are seven top-10 finishes to call upon – two coming this season already – and this obvious step down in class should at least put a bit of braggadocio in his stride on home soil.

Lahiri and his Indian counterparts will have been inspired by Sharma’s heroics, no question, and you wonder if – in the most humble and sincere way – they will be looking to knock the precocious 21-year-old off his pedestal in New Delhi.

SSP Chawrasia – $9,400 – Until we have a few more renewals at this hellish Gary Player layout to call upon, we have to play the percentages and back a man who always brings his A-Game to this tournament.

It would be an astonishing achievement for Chawrasia to complete a three-peat in this tournament, but if you look at the manner of his victory here 12 months ago – a margin of seven shots to second, and ten ahead of those in T8 – his dominance was clear for all to see.

In total he has won four European Tour events, all on Indian soil, as well as eleven titles on the Indian Golf Tour, so there really is no better decorated player in this field this week than the 39-year-old.

His nickname of the Indian Seve comes from an ability to chip and scramble his way out of seemingly impossible situations, and he might just need some of that flair at the DLF G&CC this week!

Paul Peterson – $8,600 – A player that ticks plenty of boxes this week is the American, Paul Peterson, who is trending very nicely at the moment.

A winner on the Asian Tour (Myanmar Open) as recently as January, Peterson is also a European Tour title holder after landing the Czech Masters in 2016. Now, Myanmar and the Czech Republic could not be any different, which suggests Peterson’s winning mentality does travel!

There is plenty of recent form to work with too, in locations as varied as Hong Kong (T2), Johannesburg (T8) and Malaysia (T11).

Peterson finished T55 here last year but not we’re not going to read into that too much naturally that was his first look at the course. It should in theory suit his short and straight hitting, and we’re happy to have a recent winner on board at a paltry $8,600.

Arjun Atwal – $7,600 – When Arjun Atwal won the 2014 Dubai Open, he credited a text message from his close friend Tiger Woods as giving him the confidence to end a long title drought.

Earlier this season, he also gave thanks to Woods for inspiration at the Mauritius Open, where he shot a course record and narrowly lost out in a playoff.

Perhaps Tiger’s heroics at the Honda Classic will once again prove a driving force for Atwal, or perhaps the brilliance of Shubhankar Sharma will act as motivation. It seems as if the 44-year-old takes his cues from others these days, and the Indian has plenty of those to take with him back to his homeland this week.

Another who should thrive with his short, precision hitting, Atwal has eight Asian Tour wins to go with titles on both the PGA and European Tours, and so his reading of these Bermuda greens should be up to spec.

Sebastien Gros – $7,300 – We’re going to take a huge chance on a player who doesn’t exactly fit the bill of an Indian Open winner here, but he’s somebody who really impressed at the Tshwane Open last time out.

How do these stats from Sebastien Gros grab you: first for Driving Distance (an average of a whopping 355 yards), seventh for Driving Accuracy (a ridiculous 70% of fairways found at that length) and first for Greens in Regulation.

It’s a combination that should have propelled him to the title in South Africa, but to steal a phrase from darts it’s very much ‘approach play for show, putting for dough.’

The flat stick let Gros down at the Tshwane, but he still closed with rounds of 66-65 to earn a slice of fifth place.

Perhaps that could prove to be a breakout performance for the Frenchman, who has struggled to convert his Challenge Tour success on the big stage. He will certainly be looking to improve upon his T51 finish from last year.

Siddikur Rahman – $7,000 – If you are into such things, Siddikur Rahman can be backed at a mammoth 275/1 with the sportsbooks to win this week, and stranger things truly have happened.

The Bangladeshi won on Indian soil as recently as January in the Dhaka Open, an event co-sanctioned by the Asian Development and Indian Tours, and he will perhaps best be known to European Tour followers as the man who chased Jeung-hun Wang around the Mauritius Open in 2016 before finishing second.

Siddikur won the Indian Open in 2013 and the Chittagong Open in 2017, and while his game at this higher level does seem to be a bit hit and miss, Rahman could well prove to be a fantastic sleeper play if he brings his best to New Delhi.

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