Patrick Reed has made 448 starts in his professional golf career, from California to Qatar to Kawagoe (which is in Japan) – and everywhere in between. But even for the well-traveled Masters champion, this week’s stage is a new one.
“I’ve never come around a golf course like this before,” he said Wednesday. “It’s one of those that is completely different from what I expected.”
Reed was referring to the Lodhi Course at Delhi Golf Club, site of India’s DP World Championship this week. The course plays only 6,912 yards all stretched, but it is tighter than a 15-handicapper that plays. Augusta National with Tiger Woods. Doglegs. Pinched landing zones. Swallows rough balls. Jungle-lined fairways and Mughal-era ruins. The name, DGC throws it at everyone.
Take the par-3 12th hole, for example, where, the course’s website will tell you, “the right side of the green is protected not only by a deep bunker, but also by trees that overhang and can ricochet the ball into the jungle.” Or the par-4 16th, where a tree in the middle of the fairway “acts like a ball magnet.” Or one of the so-called easiest holes on the course, the par-4 1st, which is “definitely a good birdie opportunity” assuming you “can manage to stay out of the bushes.”
Then it’s on to DGC, where players who are a bit offline can quickly find DFL.
“The tightest golf course I’ve ever played,” he said Thomas Detrya Belgian who plays for LIV.
So tight that Detry took his driver out of the bag this week. “Swapped to a 3 iron so I have a little more options off the tee,” he said. His conservatory didn’t help Detry on the par-4 15th, where Thursday he knocked his tee shot into the bush and had to reload on his way to a double.
However, Detry played well in the rain-shortened first round (which nearly half the field finished), shooting a five-under 67 that had him just one round behind club leader Niklas Norgaard.
The driverless strategy is popular this week. Rory McIlroy is also withoutleaving what is typically his most dangerous weapon in his hotel room. “To me it just didn’t make sense,” he said. “I’m here to win the tournament. I’m not here to hit drivers. I think the best chance will be to keep the driver in the bag.”
A year ago, in India’s inaugural DP World Championship, Tommy Fleetwood showed DGC who’s the leader by posting 22 under over four rounds on his way to his eighth career DPWT win (but first ahead of his son, Frankie). Fleetwood, who shot a two-under 70 in a soggy first round on Thursday, was hoping to repeat the feat this week – but he has a new obstacle in his way: much juicer and more penal rough than the field has encountered in 2025.
“Without a doubt, you should be playing golf courses from the fairway,” he said. “It was like that before. But last year, I felt like you missed the fairways, as uncontrollable as the rough and the way Bermuda plays, like you can hit towards the green and you can have the option of trying to figure out where I want to miss?” This year, Fleetwood said, feels more like a U.S. Open: “You hit it bad and you just hack it.”
When Reed started scouting the course, he thought he was a pushover. Not even 7000 meters? LOL.
“The guys aren’t going to shoot anything,” Reed recalled thinking. “There will be many birdies. There will be a lot of wedges.” He then played the course, which was redesigned by Peter Thomson in the 1970s before a 2019. Gary Player renovation “With how narrow the fairways are and how thick the rough is, it basically reloads (when you miss a fairway).”
Reed said his Wednesday practice was the first time he had ever played two back-to-back par-5s, as he ironed off the tee and 3-wooded for his second. “You’re just sitting there and you’re like, wait, this is the kind of thing you do at home when you play your home course,” he said. “Like when I play my home course, it gets so boring to play over and over again. You almost get too comfortable. I’m going to play only odd clubs or even clubs or irons alone. This is just like irons. Iron from the tee then what do I do from there going on.”
Herein lies the beauty of DGC: It makes players think in ways that are rarely asked. Most weeks, it’s driver-wedge-repeat. In Delhi, it is a chess match. And we’re not talking about moving a pawn two squares instead of one – we mean Magnus Carlsen-level tactics, like transporting your king two squares to a rook and jumping the rook to the adjacent square to protect the king.
Reed understands.
“The biggest thing is sticking to the game plan, being comfortable with that game plan, and really going out there and executing,” he said. “Because it’s one of those golf courses that you just have a hair off the line, you’re going to be in trouble.”