Hero Indian Open - Fantasy DP World Tour ones to watch

The DP World Tour is back in India for the first time since 2019 as the Asian Swing comes to a close at the Hero Indian Open.

Thorbjørn Olesen heads the field as he chases a second consecutive win and a second Ryder Cup appearance but he will have plenty of competition from the likes of fellow Dane Nicolai Højgaard, Scot Robert MacIntyre and home hero Shubhankar Sharma.

If you have not done so already, you can sign up to play the official 2023 DP World Tour Fantasy game and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/

The 2023 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.

Favourite - Thorbjørn Olesen

There really is nowhere else to start this week than with Thunderbear after his brilliant win in Thailand. The Dane arrived at Amata Spring Country Club in excellent form having finished 20th, 16th and fourth in his three previous events and he continued that trajectory in fine style with a four-shot victory. He is the highest-ranked player in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex in the field this week at fifth and also arrives with no scar tissue from the tough DLF Golf and Country Club as he makes his tournament debut. He was the second most popular pick last week, featuring in 35 per cent of teams, and so far this week he is second again but finds himself picked by over 55 per cent of players. He also had 13.51% of players smiling last week when they had him as captain. He is the fifth highest points-scorer in 2023 Fantasy so far and the highest-ranked to have only played four counting events - just 42 points behind leader Alexander Björk.

Form Horse - Jeunghun Wang

It's fair to say that with his recent run, Olesen could have featured in this category too, but he is not the only man on Tour playing well. Wang will this week be making his eighth start of the season, having not played at all in 2021 and 2022 as he did his mandatory military service in his native South Korea. Any rust could easily be forgiven and he missed three of his first five cuts but he followed up a tie for third in Singapore with an eighth-placed finish last week. Add in the fact he finished second at this event in 2016 - albeit on a different course - and he is definitely one to watch this week. Surprisingly, he was selected in less than six per cent of teams for both Thailand and Singapore, although players may be waking up to his form as he is currently in over 19 per cent of squads for this week.

Wild Card - S.S.P. Chawrasia

Currently without a card on the DP World Tour and sitting at 1,209th on the Official World Golf Ranking, Chawrasia could be the wildest Wild Card of the season, but if he was ever to fancy his chances of dramatically changing both those situations, this would be the week. The home hero finished second four times at this event before finally winning it in 2016 and he made a successful defence right here at DLF Golf and Country Club 12 months later. He may have just seven top tens worldwide since then but course knowledge and confidence could prove vital this week - as well as home support. It is also worth noting that all four of his DP World Tour victories have come in his homeland, with his triumph here coming by seven shots.

Looking back - Thailand Classic

As mentioned earlier, Olesen made plenty of players happy last week, with the champion featuring in 35 per cent of teams and in 13.51 per cent as captain. It was also a good week for followers of this column as our Favourite - and the most popular pick - Nicolai Højgaard finished in a tie for fifth, with Form Horse Zander Lombard also in the top 20.

2023 DP World Tour Fantasy player rankings