We’ve applauded Thomas Detry’s Phoenix Open victory back in early February and now Nicolas Colsaerts shares the lead after the opening round of the Hero Indian Open in New Delhi.
Of course one round in a four round tournament doesn’t make for the ‘W’ but the 10-time pro winning Colsaerts went so to a fourth DP World Tour last October at the Dunhill Links Championship losing out to 72nd hole Tyrrell Hatton birdie.
And with that effort at the Home of Golf helping Colsaerts regain his 2025 DP World Tour card and the now 42-year old doing his best after superbly recovering from his slow Indian start to share the lead alongside England’s Marcus Armitage and Swede Marcus Kinhult with trio posting four-under 68s.
Colsaerts had set the target early in the day after signing for a round of 68 despite two bogeys in his opening three holes, before Swede Kinhult and Englishman Armitage joined him at the top of the leaderboard on four under at DLF Golf and Country Club.
Leaderboard after day one 2025 Hero Indian Open. Image DP World Tour
The 2023 European Ryder Cup Vice-Captain recorded his first birdie of the day at the fourth and followed that upith another at the sixth. A dropped shot at the seventh followed by back-to-back gains at the eighth and ninth saw him make the turn at one under.
Further birdies arrived at the tenth, 14th and the par five 15th as the Belgian navigated the back nine without dropping a shot to set the target at DLF Golf and Country Club, one of the toughest layouts on the DP World Tour.
“It went great today. It’s a difficult golf course and anyone who will shoot under-par today is going to be extremely happy”, said Colsaerts.
“The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer and it’s a little bit like a mini U.S. Open. It’s a really hard course”.
“The 18th hole is a really nice finishing hole and 16 visually is an amazing par three, there’s a couple of great holes on the front. I don’t think 17 is going to be of everyone’s taste because you don’t really see anything, it’s big elevation but I think all in all it’s a golf course that if you play good golf you’re going to enjoy playing.
“I would like to stay as patient as I was today and keep understanding that the pars are good, if you make a few birdies it’s great, everybody’s going to make bogeys and I’m going to try to keep the ball in play as much as possible”.
Kinhult made an impressive start to his first round with birdies at the first, second and fourth. He made a bogey five at the seventh before bouncing back immediately with a gain at the par five eighth to turn at three under par.
The 2019 Betfred British Masters winner kept his scorecard clean on the way in, which included a birdie at the 15th to grab a share of the lead in New Delhi.
Armitage has made a strong start to the 2025 Race to Dubai, including a fifth place finish at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic and he was pleased, despite the uncomfortable afternoon heat. to keep that positive momentum going on day one of the Hero Indian Open – the second of four events on the Asian Swing.
“Teeing off in the afternoon, it’s pretty hot out there,” said Armitag.
“It’s dot to dot around here, I really like the golf course because it’s different. You’ve got to play some great golf to shoot a good score and I was fantastic today. It was very cool to get some success around here.
“In the middle of my round I hit in the water on eight and then made up and down with a wedge to save par which was quite big and then birdied nine and ten. I had a little hiccup on 11 but I just kept patient out there because this golf course can wind you up, you can get frustrated pretty quick and I just dug in and overall, I am really pleased with it.
“Life’s good at the moment and when life’s good you’ve got to enjoy it, so why not give that vibe out as well”.
