DP World Tour : Hero Indian Open Leaderboard
Japanese rookie Keita Nakajima has taken this Hero Indian Open by storm, leading from wire to wire for his first win on the DP World Tour by four strokes 65 65 68 73 -17
He has won 4 times in Japan and was the #1 amateur. This time he was the class of the field although with the title in his hands he struggled home with a double and 3 bogey's in his last 5 holes ! The Japanese entered the final round with a four-shot advantage and that was extended to nine he turned in 33 and threatened to blow the rest of the field away at DLF Golf & Country Club.
He could not quite maintain that incredible pace on the back nine but his 17 under par total gave him a comfortable victory over home favourite Veer Ahlawat, Swede Sebastian Söderberg and American Johannes Veerman.
The win in just his 11th start moves Nakajima to 13th in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and to the top of the Asian Swing standings.
Nakajima becomes the fifth Japanese winner in DP World Tour history and his victory, the seventh by a Japanese player, comes as part of a remarkable purple patch for his nation on Tour.
We now have multiple Japanese winners in the same season for the first time after Rikuya Hoshino - who sits second in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex - won last month's Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Hoshino took the same pathway to the DP World Tour as Nakajima, finishing second in the Japan Golf Tour Organisation Order of Merit in 2022, an Order of Merit which Nakajima won in 2023 with the help of three of his four wins on that tour.
Nakajima could now also follow Hisatune's path to the PGA TOUR by obtaining Dual Membership via the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex in another potential chapter in a career that saw him spend 87 weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
"It feels amazing," he said. "I was a little nervous and I had a tough back nine but I hit some great shots.
"I want to try and finish on the top ten on this tour and then go to the PGA TOUR in 2025."
French duo Jeong weon Ko and Romain Langasque, Malaysian Gavin Green and Italian Matteo Manassero finished at 12 under, one shot clear of Dane Jeff Winther and two ahead of German Yannik Paul.
Canada's Aaron Cockerill T55 72 67 74 76 +1
The tour is now off for the Masters break and will reconvene in Korea on April 18th.
eropeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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