Hero Indian Open 2025: Spain’s Chacarra edges out defending champion Nakajima to clinch title

Eugenio Chacarra of Spain rose to the challenge to emerge the champion in the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open golf championship at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Spaniard, who had the experience of competing in the International series here and was competing on an invitation from the sponsor, had an entertaining one-under 71 in the fourth round.

Chacarra’s overnight one-shot lead evaporated on the first pin itself, as he had a double bogey. He endured two more bogeys and returned five birdies to pull through with a two-shot margin over defending champion Keitaka Nakajima of Japan.

The 24-year-old Nakajima had two birdies and two bogeys for a par round, but he had done exceptionally well to make a fight of it. He won $247,500 for the second spot.

“It feels incredible to win an European Tour event here in India. It was one of my dreams when I was young. I thank Hero for the opportunity to compete here. It was one of the hardest courses and the way I did it, it was awesome,” said Chacarra, who was presented a cheque of $382,500.

“After playing here in February, I went and worked hard. I knew that I would need my A-Game here. It is a life changing win. I don’t have to worry about entries for the next two years,” said Chacarra, as he conceded that his focus would be to play as many tournaments as possible, keep getting better and stay healthy.

The champion underlined that on a course that was “this hard, and this beautiful”, it was easy to get into the defensive mode, and emphasised that he kept reminding himself to stay aggressive.

Brandon Stone, who was also one shot behind Chacarra overnight, went five-over, following five bogeys, a double bogey and two birdies, and finished joint sixth with three-over 291.

Om Prakash Chauhan was one of a handful of players to return a sub-par score in the fourth round. His one-under 71 put him joint 17th along with last year’s runner-up Veer Ahlawat and Gaganjeet Bhullar among others.

Ajeetesh Sandhu who had a spectacular start with three-under 69 on the opening day, had a six-over this day, for an overall 10-over 298 that placed him joint 21st.