Last week's Hero Indian Open saw the DP World Tour return to DLF Golf & Country and the New Delhi layout had lost little of its bite from previous seasons.
Marcel Siem's 14 under winning score may have been the lowest in five editions of the event on the DP World Tour but it was the highest of the season so far by two strokes.
Here, we take a look at some of the other statistics from the week and see what the players had to say about one of the Tour's biggest tests.
• Across the four rounds of competition, only seven players managed to record bogey-free rounds.
• The four over cut mark was the highest of the season so far.
• The par-four 14th – the toughest hole all tournament – was one of 11 to play over par.
• The 14th was also the fifth toughest hole on Tour so far this season, playing an average of 0.41 shots over its par and a combined 152 over for the week.
• The 18th was one of just three par fives this season to play over its par at +0.14 strokes and it saw more scores of bogey or worse (112) than it did birdies (99).
The par 4 14th hole was the hardest hole at the Hero Indian Open 📊
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 27, 2023
Champion Marcel Siem played it +3 for the week. #FortinetThreatScore | @Fortinet
Marcel Siem
“It’s a tricky golf course. Ball striking is required here this week, it’s not a putting contest, so I really love that. The last two weeks, the fairways were quite wide and we were just ripping it. We were hitting it as hard as we could and I didn’t hit one driver 100 per cent today, I was just steering them around. The key thing is just to not lose golf balls. You have to be focused and hit confident shots – if you back off too much, you hit bad shots sometimes. Keep it on the fairway, find the right spots on the greens and then hopefully hole some putts."
Stephen Gallacher
“It’s just one of those courses you’ve got to be patient at, it’s not one you can force a score on. Anything can happen. You’ve got to play with your head around here. Par is a good score. There’s some tough, tough holes and few you can attack but it’s just a really tough track and one of the best we play all year to be honest."
Robert MacIntyre
“I’ve heard a lot of stories about how difficult and almost wild it is. I played the back nine today and stood on the 15th I thought ‘this is alright here, we can deal with this’ then the last three and a half holes, it blew my mind a little bit. It’s the same for everyone, it’s just different, it’s going to be difficult, it’s a mental test rather than a test to your golf game."
S.S.P. Chawrasia
“This is tougher than last week. I always follow the scores and the winning scores are always 20 under or better, but this week is a lot different. The players are very strong but still, this course is a little bit tougher.”
Gudmundur Kristjansson
“It’s a very tricky course but it is nice knowing that you’re not going to get away with anything here. You’re always laser-focussed on not only where your target is but also where your leaves are. Looking at that 18th green, if you miss the green, you’re very lucky to have a shot inside ten feet from there. I’ve been quite conservative in trying to leave everything between ten and 30 feet on every hole."
Angad Cheema
“I try not to look at the leaderboard because I don’t think it’s going to do me any good. I can’t just think ‘this is a birdie hole, I can go and attack it’, every hole is so tough. There are limits on every hole so I just have to go out there, shoot my number and hope."
