The Hero Indian Open will reportedly be making a return on the DP World (European) Tour’s schedule for 2023 after a gap of three years.
It will be played from February 23 to 26 for a $2 million purse, the largest ever for a professional golf tournament on Indian soil, Business Today reports. It bears noting that before the pandemic-forced break, the prize money on offer at the Hero Indian Open was $1.75m.
Up until 2019, the Indian Open was co-sanctioned the Asian Tour and the European Tour. From 2023, the Hero Indian Open will exclusively be on the DP World Tour schedule and no longer part of the Asian Tour.
Besides the Hero Indian Open, there are four new tournaments in Asia, Business Today further reports. The tournaments are the Singapore Classic (February 9 to 12), the Thailand Classic (February 16 to 19), followed by the Tour’s first trip to Japan for the ISPS Handa Championship (April 20 to 23) and a return to Korea for the first time since 2013 (April 27 to 30).
Meanwhile, in an indirectly related development, the DP World Tour Wednesday confirmed that Ryder Cup heroes Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari will captain the respective Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe teams in next year’s Hero Cup.
The new team match play contest, which will tee off the new year’s first DP World Tour event, will take place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club from January 13-15, 2023, with Fleetwood and Molinari each selecting nine players for their teams before they, themselves, make up the ten-man line-ups.
The teams will be confirmed early next month with Fleetwood and Molinari working alongside Luke Donald, who will preside over the event in his capacity as 2023 European Ryder Cup Captain.
Selection will take into account performances on the DP World Tour Rankings with the contest itself consisting of one session of foursomes, one session of fourballs and one session of singles matches, with all 20 players taking part in each session. Members of the winning team will each earn $125,000, with those on the losing team each receiving $75,000.
Speaking about the Hero Cup, Pawan Munjal, chairman and CEO, Hero MotoCorp, said: “It’s a delight to have both Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari as playing captains in the inaugural Hero Cup. After their exciting pairing in the Ryder Cup in France, I am sure it will be fascinating to see them against each other and leading the two teams at the Hero Cup.”
