Gurugram, March 24 : SSP Chawrasia, a two-time winner and one of India's golfing legends, is all set to tee off at the upcoming Hero Indian Open that will be held this week at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

The 2025 edition of the tournament, with a prize purse of US$ 2.25 million will be held from March 27-30, 2025.

Chawrasia is one of the only three players to have won the Hero Indian Open title back-to-back when he achieved the feat in 2016-2017. For the 2025 edition of the Hero Indian Open, SSP Chawrasia has been granted a special invitation by Dr. Pawan Munjal, Executive Chairman of Hero MotoCorp, which is the title sponsor of the prestigious event.

Chawrasia possesses an amazing record at this tournament, having finished runner-up on four occasions (2015, 2013, 2006 and 1999) at HIO apart from his two wins in 2016 and 2017. Notably, he was second or better each time between 2013 and 2017 ' the HIO was not held in 2014 because of scheduling changes.

Chawrasia, 46, also has the distinction of winning a DP World Tour event at the DLF on two different occasions ' he won the 2014 Avantha Masters and then the 2017 Hero Indian Open. His two other DPWT wins came in 2008 at Emaar Masters at the DGC and the HIO at the Delhi Golf Club in 2016, for a total of four wins on the DP World Tour. Overall, Chawrasia has six international titles.

Chawrasia is one of the three past champions playing in the 2025 edition, with the others being Keita Nakajima (2024) and Marcel Siem (2023).

The field of 138 includes two other players, who have won titles in the last two weeks ' Richard Mansell, who won the Porsche Singapore Classic on Sunday and Joshua Berry, who won the Kolkata Challenge on the HotelPlanner Tour, to earn a passage into the HIO.

One of the strongest fields to have ever assembled on Indian soil at the Hero Indian Open, the tournament will see five players who have won on the DPWT in the 2025 season ' Mansell (Singapore Classic), Callum Hill (Joburg Open), John Parry (AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open), Johannes Veerman (Nedbank Golf) and Ryggs Johnston (ISPS Handa Australian Open.

Four of the current Top 10 on the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai rankings are featured on the list with Parry (3rd), Daniel Hillier (5th), Veerman (9th) and Mansell (10th).

12 winners from the 2024 DPWT season are also there in the field.

/IANS