India's only Asian golf tour, DGC (Delhi Golf Club) Open will not return for its third edition as it has been reportedly dropped from the international circuit due to internal committee issue.
DGC hosted the last edition in March 2023, Nitithorn Thippong of Thailand clinched the title by defeating India's Ajeetesh Sandhu in the playoff. With the DGC Open dropping from hosting the upcoming edition of the golf tournament, India will not host an Asian event for the first time in over 40 years.
As per the report by Hindustan Times, the decision to drop the Asian golf event in Delhi was taken during the General Council meeting of Delhi Golf Club without seeking any consent.
"It is the decision of the new management. The topic was never debated or placed on agenda. We can say that it was a unilateral decision from the club president.” a senior DGC official said.
Internal rift in DGC committee
The report further suggested that DGC members are unhappy with the new management of the club for their lack of interest in getting new sponsors after Mastercard pulled out after sponsoring previous two editions of the DGC Open.
"Money was never an issue. We had Mastercard as our sponsors for the first two editions. In fact, we made about ₹50 lakh each year. Even if there was a problem with the sponsors, the new management never went about looking for options.
"It's a result of some members not being happy with the previous GC getting the limelight." the official told HT on the condition of anonymity.
Some of the members of DGC didn't appreciate the course being out of bounds for months for about a month.
"It takes about two weeks to prepare the course for the competition and the event itself runs for a week. So, for at least 3-4 weeks, the course is not available to members. Quite a few of them didn't like that.” a club official said.
