Golf: Shubhankar, Anirban join global field at India Championship
New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) Home heroes Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri will lead Indian hopes when they join the global field gathering for the second edition of the India Championship.
The duo will join a host of stars, including defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy and newly crowned Open Champion Ryan Fox, in the highly-anticipated USD 4,000,000 event at Delhi Golf Club from October 15-18.
Shubhankar became the youngest India player to win on the DP World Tour when he claimed the Joburg Open title in December 2017, aged just 21. He lifted a second trophy two months later after carding a sublime final round of 62 to win the Maybank Championship and capped off the season by claiming the 2018 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award and topping the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
The 30-year-old has also recorded six wins on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and represented India at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“It was a very special to play in the inaugural DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club last season, and I’m very much looking forward to returning this October. Having such an incredible field coming back to India for the second edition of this tournament says a lot about the continued growth of the game in our country, and it provides a great platform for the many talented Indian players competing at the moment,” Shubhankar said.
Anirban also counts two DP World Tour titles amongst his 18 international victories, with the most recent coming on home soil at the 2015 Indian Open, when he won in dramatic fashion after coming from seven shots back to defeat S.S.P Chawrasia in a play-off.
He became the first Indian player to play in the Presidents Cup, going on to represent the International Team in 2015 and 2017, and is a two-time Olympian, competing for India at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
He topped the PGTI Order of Merit in 2009 and the Asian Tour equivalent in 2015 and was twice voted Asian Tour Players’ Player of the Year.
Anirban said: “It’s always enjoyable to get the chance to play in India, so it’s great to be involved in the second edition of the DP World India Championship. Delhi Golf Club is such an iconic venue and showed that last season, so we’ll be aiming to put on a show for our home fans at this historic course.”
Co-sanctioned with the PGTI, the tournament features the largest prize fund ever offered for a DP World Tour event in India and will once again take its place as part of the crucial Back 9 phase of the Race to Dubai.
The stellar field gathering for the DP World India Championship this October includes, Major winners McIlroy, Fox, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald and Ryder Cup stars Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland.
The DP World India Championship will be the eighth of nine events in the Back 9 phase of the 2026 Race to Dubai, building towards the season-ending DP World Tour Play-Offs and culminating in the DP World Tour Championship in November at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.
–IANS
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