Gurugram, April 9: The DP World Tour, erstwhile European Tour, is seeing a robust growth with 44 events spread across Europe, Australia, Asia, MENA region and South Africa. The Continental Tour has been co-sanctioning the Indian Open in partnership with the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the country's National Sports Federation, since 2015.

From being a $1.5 million tournament in 2015, the Indian Open has grown into a $2.25 million event with the support of title sponsors Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer. Hero MotoCorp also are the title holders of the $9 million Dubai Desert Classic.

Playing on a sponsor's invitation, Eugenio Chacarra became the first-ever Spaniard to clinch the Hero Indian Open trophy last week at the Gary Player-designed DLF Golf & Country Club. The tournament saw some interesting round scores this time with sultry weather making the scoring difficult.

MyKhel caught up with DP World Tour's Chief Tournament & Partnerships Officer Ben Cowen in a freewheeling chat about the continental body's expansion plans, conduct of the Indian Open, objective of bringing two Challenge Tour events to India and much more. Excerpts from the interview:

MyKhel: How has been the experience organising the Hero Indian Open this time?

Ben Cowen: It's great to be back here in India, staging the Hero Indian Open. We've got a long history with this event and with Hero (MotoCorp) as our title partner. We've got a new long-term deal with the Indian Golf Union for this tournament as well. So, we're excited to see how we can grow this tournament over the coming 3 years. This week has been an exciting week, certainly. We saw some tough conditions out here (DLF Golf & Country Club) for the golfers. But they enjoyed it. It's a great golf course.

MK: How important is the Indian market for the DP World Tour?

BC: I'm sure it is very important for the European Tour and the DP World Tour to be coming to India. And continue their relation with the Indian market and the Indian corporates, especially Hero MotoCorp. Yeah, the DP World Tour is the global golf tour. We go to 24 different countries. So, we have over 30 different nationalities playing with us. So, India is one of those and remains a very important country for us to play in. So, it's nice to have a long-term partnership here with the Indian Golf Union. And also with the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) as well.

We have a strategic alliance with them. And we're very proud of that alliance with the PGTI. And helping to grow and develop the young professionals as well as the young amateurs working with the Indian Golf Union.

MK: You organised two Challenge Tour events this year - Delhi Challenge (March 13-16) and the Kolkata Challenge (March 20-23). What is the objective of bringing these events to India?

BC: Yeah, so the two Hotel Planner Tour (erstwhile Challenge Tour) events that we've had for a number of years, we had again this year. They're, I think, instrumental for the Indian players. You know, it's tough to come out here onto the DP World Tour once a year and compete for all of the guys. So, to have two opportunities before that on the Hotel Planner Tour really gives them a springboard coming into the Hero Indian Open. They get quite a few spots in the Hotel Planner events. And that creates the pathway.

So, if they play well there, they can then progress on to the Hotel Planner Tour and then going forward. But we also have, through our strategic alliance with the PGTI, the leading player on their order of merit each year gets a card onto the DP World Tour. So, you know, there's lots of different pathways and that's what we're trying to create. We want to give the best players around the world the opportunity to come and play on the DP World Tour and the Hotel Planner Tour.

MK: DP World Tour is actually getting more into Asia like you hosted the Singapore event earlier in March. So, what is the expansion plan for Asia?

BC: I think we're very happy with the events that we have. The Volvo China Open is a long-standing event. The Porsche Singapore Classic as well. Here at the Hero Indian Open and then we have a new event this year in the Hainan Classic in China as well. We have, I don't know if you've seen, but we have these swings now through the global swings part of the season. So, basically from November when we start our season through to August, we have these number of swings and we have an Asian swing.

So, we want to have a certain number of events, four or five events in Asia, but we're not looking to expand beyond that. Obviously, there are opportunities for all the Asian players to play on their respective local tours and then find a pathway onto our tour. If you look at the last five years, how has the DP World Tour grown, and how has the Hero Indian Open? You have seen it grow.