Rory McIlroy appearing at National Open for first time ever with record prizemoney

Fresh from his Ryder Cup heroics and on the back of his best ever season and completing the career grand slam, McIlroy was presented with a garland on his arrival

Rory McIlroy has arrived in India to great fanfare as the Masters champion breaks new ground and takes part in the World India Championship this week. The world number two will be the star attraction in both the DP World India Championship and December’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.

The Holywood man has spoken about making golf a more global sport and the DP World Tour have acted by making this the highest ever payday for an event in India.

“If everyone is talking about growing the game,” McIlroy said earlier this year, “especially if these investors are going to come into our game and they want a return on their capital, I think everyone needs to start thinking more globally around it.”

The Lodhi Course at the Delhi Golf Club hosts this week’s event, the first time it has been used on the DP World Tour since the 2016 Hero Indian Open. The tournament has a total prize fund of $4 million (£3.01 million) on offer, while the winner will get 835 Race to Dubai ranking points.

The winner will also be presented with the Lotus Trophy, made from crystal and having two symbols of India – the Taj Mahal and the lotus flower – within its design.

“I haven’t hidden my sort of aspirations for national Opens and where I would like them to be, what their standing is in the professional game of golf,” McIlroy said.

“The European Tour and DP World created a new event there. I was asked at the start of the year would I be interested in going, and I said yeah, that sounds amazing,” McIlroy said recently. “The Hero Indian Open is always when we’re – it’s like March-April time. I’d love to play DLF and figure out my way around that place, but this one in Delhi in October made more sense.”

Fresh from his Ryder Cup heroics and on the back of his best ever season and completing the career grand slam, McIlroy was presented with a garland on his arrival.

Bryson DeChambeau played in India for the first time this spring and attracted record crowds. McIlroy is not the only European Ryder Cup star in town, with Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland and captain Luke Donald also taking part in Delhi.