Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri to Lead Indian Challenge at DP World India Championship 2026
India's top golfers, Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri, will once again spearhead the home challenge when the world's elite descend on the Delhi Golf Club for the second edition of the DP World India Championship from October 15 to 18.
The tournament, co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the DP World Tour, boasts a prize purse of USD 4 million, making it the richest DP World Tour event ever staged in India. As part of the crucial Back 9 phase of the Race to Dubai, the championship has attracted one of the strongest fields ever assembled for a golf tournament in the country.
Joining Sharma and Lahiri will be defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, newly crowned Open Champion Ryan Fox, Career Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy, Major champions Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, and Ryder Cup star Viktor Hovland, ensuring a week of world-class golf in the Indian capital.
For Indian fans, much of the attention will be focused on two of the country's most accomplished golfers. Shubhankar Sharma has been one of India's leading golfers over the past decade and remains among the country's biggest names on the DP World Tour. The 30-year-old burst onto the international stage in 2017 when he became the youngest Indian to win on the DP World Tour after capturing the Joburg Open title at just 21 years of age.
His remarkable breakthrough season continued only two months later when he produced a sensational final-round 62 to win the Maybank Championship, firmly establishing himself among golf's emerging stars. That stellar campaign earned Sharma the prestigious Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award while also helping him top the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2018.
Domestically, Sharma has enjoyed consistent success with six victories on the Professional Golf Tour of India, while also representing the country at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Competing in front of home supporters at Delhi Golf Club presents another opportunity for Sharma to challenge for one of the biggest titles of his career.
Alongside Sharma, Anirban Lahiri enters the championship as one of India's most decorated golfers. The veteran has amassed 18 international victories, including two DP World Tour titles, during an illustrious professional career spanning more than a decade. One of the defining moments of Lahiri's career came at the 2015 Hero Indian Open, where he produced a dramatic comeback from seven strokes behind before defeating S.S.P. Chawrasia in a playoff to lift the title on home soil.
His achievements extend well beyond individual tournament victories.
Lahiri became the first Indian golfer to represent the International Team at the Presidents Cup, competing in both the 2015 and 2017 editions. He is also a two-time Olympian, representing India at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. His consistency has also been recognised through Order of Merit titles on both the PGTI in 2009 and the Asian Tour in 2015, while he has twice been voted the Asian Tour Players' Player of the Year.
With years of experience competing against the world's best, Lahiri will hope to use his familiarity with Indian conditions to mount another title challenge.
World-Class Field Heads to Delhi
The second edition of the India Championship has succeeded in attracting one of the strongest international fields ever assembled for a golf event in India. Leading the lineup is Rory McIlroy, one of golf's biggest global stars and one of the few players to have completed the coveted Career Grand Slam. Joining him is defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, who returns looking to successfully defend the title he claimed during the tournament's inaugural edition.
Fresh from winning The Open Championship, New Zealand's Ryan Fox arrives in Delhi carrying tremendous momentum and confidence. Major champions Shane Lowry and Justin Rose further strengthen the field, while Luke Donald and Viktor Hovland add Ryder Cup pedigree to an already star-studded lineup. The combination of elite international talent and India's leading professionals promises one of the most competitive golf tournaments ever staged in the country.
The tournament continues to grow in stature within the global golf calendar. As part of the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai schedule, the India Championship falls during the crucial Back 9 segment of the season, where players compete for valuable ranking points and qualification opportunities. Its record-breaking prize fund reflects the DP World Tour's commitment to expanding professional golf in India while providing domestic players with an opportunity to compete against the sport's biggest names without leaving home.
The partnership with the Professional Golf Tour of India also highlights the growing collaboration between international and domestic golf, creating valuable opportunities for Indian professionals to test themselves against world-class competition.
The return of the DP World India Championship represents another significant milestone in the continued growth of golf in India. Hosting players of McIlroy's stature alongside established stars such as Fleetwood, Fox, Lowry, Rose and Hovland reinforces India's position as an increasingly important destination on the global golf calendar.
For Indian fans, however, the biggest hope will be seeing one of their own challenge for the title. Both Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri have produced memorable victories throughout their careers and understand the significance of performing on home soil. With thousands of local supporters expected at Delhi Golf Club, the duo will look to rise to the occasion against one of the strongest fields ever assembled in Indian golf.
As the Race to Dubai intensifies and some of the world's best golfers arrive in New Delhi, the 2026 DP World India Championship promises four days of elite competition, global star power and an opportunity for Indian golf to once again shine on the international stage.
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