India, Dec. 31 -- Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Joaquin Niemann, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland. If star appearances were an indicator, Indian golf never had it this big. The year 2025 began with LIV Golf breaking ground in India through its $2 million International Series in Gurugram while the second half of the year witnessed $4 million DP World India Championships at the iconic Delhi Golf Club. In between was the men's Hero India Open with a prize purse of $2.5 million.

None of these big-ticket events, however, had an Indian winner. No one, in fact, came close. While hosting high-profile tournaments certainly gives India a big lift in the global golf market, the absence of a world-class Indian golfer calls for a dispa...