This week marks a new chapter as the stage is set for the inaugural India Championship on the DP World Tour, and there is no shortage of top-tier talent on display for the penultimate event on the calendar before the DP World Tour Playoffs get underway in November.
Rory McIlroy, chasing his seventh Harry Vardon Trophy as the leading player in the Race to Dubai rankings, is the headline act and though the Ryder Cup at Bethpage should be in the rearview mirror, there will be plenty of mentions of it on the TV broadcast because of who will tee it up together in the marquee groupings.
McIlroy plays alongside European teammate Viktor Hovland and American Ben Griffin, who made his maiden Ryder Cup appearance and secured his first point with a singles victory over Rasmus Hojgaard.
McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai by a healthy margin of almost 400 points, but despite closing the gap and securing a PGA Tour card for 2026, last week’s winner, Marco Penge is not in the field in India, so McIlroy’s advantage can only grow this week.
They’ll begin round one on the 10th tee at 07:20 local time (02:50 Irish time).
In the afternoon wave, Shane Lowry will be hoping that the Ryder Cup hangover that led to him missing the cut by the minimum at last week’s Open de Espana is well and truly shaken off and he’ll play alongside Tommy Fleetwood who put four points on the board for Team Europe and the captain, Luke Donald who makes his first appearance since cementing his place as one of the greatest European captains of all time by leading Europe to a first away victory since 2012.
This group get underway on the first hole at 12:10 local time (07:40 Irish time).
Conor Purcell’s chances of retaining full DP World Tour playing privileges for next season hinge on this week. At the time of writing, the Portmarnock man is the 20th reserve for next week’s Genesis Championship in Korea, and needs a top-five finish in Delhi to guarantee his place in the field without a slew of withdrawals.
Purcell is ranked 148th and needs a minimum of 200 ranking points – he has 259.7 so far – to push his way into the top 115, so the equation is simple. He has to play really well this week.
He plays alongside a former Ryder Cup star in Ross Fisher and Sweden’s Jens Dantorp, and begin their opening rounds on the first tee at 12:50 local time (08:20 Irish time) in what is effectively a make-or-break scenario for the DP World Tour rookie.
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