'The Next Time I Hit My Driver Will Be In Abu Dhabi' - Could Players Make Big Equipment Changes For The DP World India Championship?

The inaugural DP World India Championship gets underway this week, and in the field are some of the game's biggest stars.

Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry are the main headliners, with the Ryder Cup stars set to take on the tight layout of Delhi Golf Club, a course described by Tiger Woods as the narrowest he's ever played.

Featuring in an exhibition match at the course back in 2014, Woods explained that: "If you missed a fairway, you were in the brush."

Throughout its history, scores have varied during the times it has staged the country's home open and, ahead of this year's tournament, it appears players will be altering and adapting their set-ups for the challenges that lie ahead.

According to SMS On Tour, 31% of players didn’t have a driver in the bag the last time a tournament was held at Delhi Golf Club and, for 2025, it appears that figure could be similar.

Ben Griffin, who has been one of the in-form players on the PGA Tour this season, claiming two wins and securing a spot on the US Ryder Cup team, is reportedly expected to drop his driver out of the bag, using a TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood and 7-wood instead, as well as his Mizuno Pro Fli Hi 2-iron.

Measuring just 6,912 yards, the course is on the shorter side and, with the fairways some of the narrowest on the DP World Tour, it may be the case that several professionals keep the driver back in the hotel this week.

One of those could be McIlroy who, in his press conference on Wednesday, joked that "the next time I hit my driver will be in Abu Dhabi. I don't think I'll hit a driver this week. I just don't feel like the risk is worth the reward.

"I'd rather leave myself two or three clubs back and hit a 7-iron into a par 4 instead of hitting a wedge where if you just get it off-line here and the ball is gone. You're hitting it into jungle and you're not going to be able to get it out. You can rack up a very big number very quickly. So being strategic and being smart with your play off the tee, especially, is very important.

"I can see why SSP (Chawrasia) has done so well around here. You just keep hitting it down the middle, hit it 260, 250, 260 every single time, and if you do that, then you can do very well around this golf course."

McIlroy is making his debut this week at Delhi Golf Club, as is Lowry, who posted a tweet to his X/Twitter channel with the caption: "Won’t be many drivers hit this week."

A player who knows the course as well as anybody is Anirban Lahiri, who claimed victory around the layout back in 2015, firing a seven-under total and defeating fellow countryman Chawrasia in a playoff.

Speaking at his press conference on Tuesday, Lahiri stated: "I don't know if you tame it, you just make friends with it. When you can't beat them, you join them. That's what I tried to do. You can't try and overpower this golf course...

"The whole idea for me was to try and figure out where to be aggressive, where to be conservative, and from being aggressive off the tee, to being conservative off the tee and aggressive on the second shot.

"I pulled the driver out of the bag, something you'll find a lot of players doing this week. I've had a chat with some of the caddies of my colleagues who are here for the first time, and they were picking my brain, and I'd be very surprised to see too many of the stars carrying a driver. That was one of the things I did."