Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Akshay Bhatia will be the top draw at the upcoming Hero Indian Open in Gurgaon next week.
By Rahul Banerji
Five players from the world’s top 100 and another eight who are inside the top 150 are in the field for the Hero Indian Open which tees off on March 26 at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon.
The presence of 13 from the world’s 150 makes the 2026 edition a strong event on the DP World Tour calendar. Co-sanctioned by the Indian Golf Union, the event carries a record prize purse of $ 2.55 million this year, a statement said.
The field will be headlined by Akshay Bhatia, winner of a Signature event on the PGA Tour, and major champion Francesco Molinari, along with India’s top golfers.
Those from the top 100 are Bhatia (22), Casey Jarvis (69), a two-time winner on DPWT in 2026, rising Australian star Elvis Smylie (74), Spain’s David Puig (85) and Thriston Lawrence (89) of South Africa.
A three-time PGA Tour champion, Bhatia is a Hero MotoCorp brand ambassador and recently won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill against the likes of world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler and world no. 2 Rory McIlroy.
Italy’s Molinari won the 2018 Open and has been a part of the winning European Ryder Cup team three times.
Others in the field include defending champion Eugenio Chacarra of Spain, currently ranked 143rd, Angel Ayora, Andy Sullivan, Nacho Elvira, Dan Bradbury, Calum Hill, Martin Couvra and Julien Guerrier.
Home challenge
They will be challenged by home stars like Shubhankar Sharma, a two-time DP World Tour winner, and Yuvraj Sandhu, winner of the 2025 PGTI Order of Merit.
Also in the fray are previous PGTI merit list champions Manu Gandas, Om Prakash Chouhan and Veer Ahlawat, who was runner-up at the 2024 Hero Indian Open, and Rayhan Thomas.
The local contingent will also include multiple winners on the PGTI like Shaurya Bhattacharya, Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja, Honey Baisoya, Khalin Joshi and Saptak Talwar, among others.
Also in the field will are rising Indian stars Kartik Singh (16) and 21-year old Shubham Jaglan, who have been given sponsor invitations for the tournament.
Five players — Jarvis, Bradbury, Freddy Schott, Elvira and Puig — have won in the current season with Jarvis topping the South African Open and Kenya Open in successive weeks.
Additionally, there are numerous experienced DPWT winners like Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matteo Manassero, Joost Luiten, Jorge Campillo, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wiesberger, and others who could be in the running.
With the cut-off to retain a full card through the Race to Dubai rankings reduced from 110 to 100, the fight for points and playing status has tightened up, making things a little more tense.
The Hero Indian Open, India’s oldest international professional tournament was started in 1964 by the Indian Golf Union and the event has been co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour since 2015.
Also read: Bhatia to headline Hero Indian Open field as event raises purse
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