Middle East conflict forces HotelPlanner Tour withdrawal from India event

The HotelPlanner Tour has withdrawn its sanction from next week’s Indorama Ventures Open Golf Championship in Ahmedabad following travel disruption caused by the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East.

Many players and staff scheduled to attend the event were due to travel through the region, leading to significant logistical concerns ahead of the tournament. After assessing the situation, the tour confirmed it had taken the decision to step back from co-sanctioning the event.

The tournament will still go ahead as planned in Ahmedabad, but it will now be sanctioned solely by the Professional Golf Tour of India.

In a statement, the HotelPlanner Tour said the situation remains fluid and will continue to be monitored closely.

“This is an evolving situation that we will continue to monitor very closely, with assessments made on a tournament-by-tournament basis,” the tour said.

India has been part of the HotelPlanner Tour schedule at various points over the past decade. The country first hosted an event in 2011 when the Gujarat Kensville Challenge was staged at Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad. On that occasion, home favourite Gaganjeet Bhullar made history by becoming the first Indian winner on the tour.

A year later, Maximilian Kieffer of Germany claimed victory in the same event after prevailing in a play-off, before fellow Indian Shiv Kapur secured a two-shot win on home soil the following season.

India returned to the schedule in 2023 with back-to-back tournaments staged at Karnataka Golf Association in Bangalore. Home favourite Om Prakash Chouhan captured the Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge, before France’s Ugo Coussaud closed with a final-round 67 to edge a one-shot victory in The Challenge presented by KGA the following week.

In 2024, England’s John Parry claimed the first of his three victories on the Road to Mallorca at the Delhi Challenge. Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen then secured a breakthrough win the following week, with both players going on to earn promotion to the DP World Tour at the end of the season.

More recently, Joshua Berry of England came through a four-man play-off to claim a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title at the Kolkata Challenge. Spain’s Quim Vidal followed that by winning the Delhi Challenge a week later, defeating Berry in a play-off on his way to securing promotion to the DP World Tour.