Gone are the days when golf was a niche sport in India. It has well and truly picked up, and it’s no surprise that the DP World Tour is finally making its way to the country. The DP World India Championship is set to enthral fans of the sport, with the competition taking place from October 16 to 19 at the Delhi Golf Club. Apart from India’s Shubhankar Sharma, the tournament will feature some of the biggest names in the sport’s history, including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, and Shane Lowry. This will be McIlroy’s first visit to India, having confirmed his participation after completing a career grand slam in April by winning the Green Jacket. This laurel was the latest addition to his list of accomplishments, which also included the 2011 US Open win, the US PGA Championship wins in 2012 and 2014, and the Open victory in 2014.
The landmark tournament, which has the potential to mark a watershed moment in golf’s history in India, will offer a prize fund of USD 4 million, the largest ever for a DP World Tour event in India. More than 20 Indian players will be trying their level best to impress on their home turf. Two-time DP World Tour winner Shubhankar will be joined by 18-time global winner Anirban Lahiri, seven-time global winner Shiv Kapur and Veer Ahlawat.
The four-day competition will be played at the Delhi Golf Club, one of the country’s most prestigious and historically significant courses. It is worth mentioning that the club was first established in 1931 as the Lodi Golf Club, and it was renamed after independence. The course is renowned for being surrounded by historical monuments, including Lal Bangla, Bara Lao ka Gumbad, and other Lodi-era tombs.
There are two main courses: the Lodhi Course (an 18-hole championship course) and the Peacock Course (a short 9-hole course suitable for beginners and casual golfers). The Delhi Golf Club has hosted several prestigious tournaments, including the Indian Open and the SAIL Open, among others. However, it is safe to say that nothing has come close to the magnitude of the DP World India Championship.
As the tournament draws closer, The Hindustan Times spoke to Raj Khosla, the president of the Delhi Golf Club, who is chuffed at the prospect of hosting a tournament as prestigious as this. The competition is co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and will serve as the penultimate stop on the Back 9.
Khosla spoke about the upcoming tournament and the logistical hurdles the association has been facing over the last few weeks. Work is underway at the Delhi Golf Club, as stands are being built to allow fans to experience the sport up close and personal.
Excerpts:
How do you see the sport of golf in the country right now? Is it exponentially growing in India?
There was a time, perhaps maybe 50-60 years ago, you know, when golf was considered a completely elite sport and very few people knew about it, and even fewer people actually played it. But you know, I want to draw the parallel here, even with cricket. I mean, if you looked at the cricketers of the 1960s, who did you have? Nawab of Pataudi, Baroda, you know, Anshuman Gaikwad. Gaikwad and the entire Gaikwad family, including the Baroda royal family, Ranjit Singh, so it was similar.
Even cricket at that point in time, I’m not saying it’s identical, but in a similar sense, a few decades ago, golf was elite, but so was cricket. Today, cricket is played everywhere, right? Even the smallest village people can look to the IPL to see how much life it has given to even the lowest and most underprivileged individuals, right? Golf is also getting there. It’s not far behind. I mean, you have people like Amit Luthra, who, through the Golf Foundation, have been supporting golf in the rural areas. Cowherds, believe it or not, partner with small sticks; they go out and take cows into the field, and they start hitting a stone, developing some skill around it.
They’ll pick him up and turn him into a champ. One such person is already there. We call him Shubhi. He’s studying at a university in the United States. So, I’m not talking about what might happen. I’m referring to a process that is currently underway. Golf, too, is no longer a totally elite sport. It has reached various smaller towns, and I must say, people who may not have otherwise been able to make a life are creating a very good life for themselves and their families.
You have been associated with the sport for a very long time. You have been managing affairs. So, what has kept you going over the years?
Managing affairs of golf, look, about 10 years ago, I was a captain. I was also, therefore, a member of the board of the Indian Golf Union. And we were selecting the Indian team for the Olympics, considering various aspects, such as what you just mentioned, in terms of making golf a more inclusive sport, rather than a narrow funnel, right? So, every opportunity we get to promote golf, and I don’t mean at all, as a matter of fact, is restricted to the club members.
I’m saying golf as a sport in a generic fashion. All we’ve managed to promote, to promote it, is to get people from upcountry, from Punjab, from UP and in the hinterland of, in and around North and Central India, and get them, give them facilities, give them an opportunity to play on the course, get them coaching, support them. In fact, I won’t take names, but there are two or three national champions who’ve been caddies at the golf club.
The DP World Championship is just around the corner. How has the big tournament been coming up? How has the build-up been over the past few days, and how do you see the tournament specifically?
Well, with a touch of self-pity, I might add that it is actually an administrator’s nightmare to put a show like this together. More so, this particular golf club is situated like that, and it’s literally a stone’s throw from India Gate. So, it’s in the town centre. It will have its space constraints, and with a show of this type, the names that everyone knows who are going to be here next week elicit a huge response, and I don’t know how many thousands of people will be walking through the course.
To put a system in place that will operate properly or to prepare for it, we’ve taken professional help throughout, and I might add, the administration, whether it is the Indian Administrative Service, the police, or the traffic, has been extremely supportive. Essentially, it’s not about the club, by the way. It’s not an item that will make the club look good or the members look good. This will make the country look good. You see, like they say, it’s a question of the country’s honour. So, we know we are shouldering a responsibility of that type and we intend to put up a really good show.
You might ask me, what’s my objective? What’s your concept of a good show? People like Rory and others are stars coming to India for the first time. When they leave India, I want them to go back and think to themselves, ‘When am I going to come back here again?’ It’s so nice, as opposed to the opposite. I’m never coming back here. So, that’s our objective, and that’s how we’ll define success.
You just alluded to Rory McIlroy. How do you see him coming to India for the first time? It is surely a big responsibility.
There are several others who will be here. So, it’s a collective responsibility and I don’t mean only of the club. Even the immigration department is at the airport, and so on, and the transport to get him here and put him up at the Oberoi next door. So, I think everyone is on this bandwagon and has a collective responsibility to take care, especially good care of the stars, but to take care of the environment generally as well.
The ticket sales have also opened for the tournament. What kind of turnout are you expecting for the tournament?
I mean, the only word that comes to mind is overwhelming, but in terms of numbers. So, that’s exactly what I was alluding to a few minutes ago: managing the logistics around an event like this is nightmarish, hellish. I mean, we are sitting on Zakir Hussain mark. That’s where the entry is. Can you imagine, it’s a club on a normal day. What would it be like on a tournament day? It’s also a festive season. So, put it all together. We are only a few days away from Diwali.
There is a common misconception about people that golf is a sport for the elite and only rich people can afford to play it. Your response?
You can’t push these things around; perception is a purely internal matter, encompassing what you like, what you dislike, and so on. So, those change over time. Just the same way it has changed in cricket. Golf is also underway. It will change. It’s already changing. You often find people from very humble backgrounds who come into the sport and make a life out of it. I mean, I won’t call Shubhankar from a very humble background, an army officer’s son, right?
So, but yeah, but he’s, but you won’t call that elite either. And he’s made a life out of this. I believe that this process will continue, and over the next 10 years, it will become as egalitarian as cricket is today. We are about 10 years behind cricket in that attribute, specifically in terms of egalitarianism.
There’s a lot of chatter about the prize money as well. What do you have to say about the specific $4 million prize money?
What can we say? Prize money is always a reward for playing well. So, 4 million dollars. Yes, it’s clearly the biggest ever purse in India. We’re going to see some really good golf and competitive golf. The course is in great shape. We have an energetic captain, Vikram Seth. Who, in short, has worked very hard to bring the course to the quality you see today. It’s absolutely fantastic, played superbly.
Do you see this specific tournament as a watershed moment for the sport in our country?
Watershed, my dear, is the understatement of the year because a tournament like this has never happened before. So, I would say it is unique in that it is happening. I also say that the country will get a boost. Remember, it’s also an international sport. Therefore, when an event of this type occurs in India, it puts the country on the international map. India is able to successfully host tournaments of this type. I mean, okay, America has Augusta and so on and then there’s the British Open in the UK and so on. I’m sure at some point, even India will come on the map and will be considered to host tournaments of this calibre. So, I think that’s a good thing.
