Japan’s Keita Nakajima has secured his first DP World Tour title at the 2024 Indian Open golf tournament, held at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurugram on Sunday. Nakajima won with a comprehensive four-shot victory, finishing 17 under-par after shooting a 73 in the final round.
Nakajima had maintained a four-shot lead going into the final round, but a strong finish from home favorite Veer Ahlawat, American Johannes Veerman, and Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg saw them tie for second place. Nakajima expressed his joy at the victory, calling it the start of a new chapter in his professional career. He aims to finish in the top ten on the DP World Tour and eventually move on to the PGA Tour in 2025.
This win at the Indian Open was only Nakajima’s 11th start and has propelled him to 13th in the Race to Dubai Rankings, leading in the Asian Swing Standings. He becomes the fifth Japanese player to win on the DP World Tour, with Japanese players now boasting a total of seven victories on the tour.
Indian golfer Veer Ahlawat finished strongly to tie for second place, scoring 13 under par. Manu Gandas finished tied-11th with nine under par, while Karandeep Kochhar and Shubhankar Sharma finished tied 13th and 31st respectively. Anirban Lahiri, who is also an Indian golfer and two-time winner on both European Tour and Asian Tour missed out despite being one of India’s most successful golfers