Anika seeks top-10 finish at Orange Tree Challenge

By Rahul Banerji

California-based amateur Anika Varma set herself up for yet another top-10 finish, this time at the Orange Tree Challenge on the Cactus Tour in the western United States on Wednesday.

The teenager from Noida, now a resident of Roseville where she trains with coach Noah Montgomery, followed her first round of 1-over par 73 at Scottsdale with a 75 to be tied 13^th, just two shots shy of a possible top 10 placing.

In her last outing on the Cactus Tour – which ran through the peak of the Covid-19 crisis to provide golfers an ongoing and competitive platform – Anika was well down the order, but is poised for better this time.

Incidentally, that event, the 20^th on the tour, also saw the professional debut of Nishtha Madan, who is not in the Orange Tree Challenge field.

Harigae leads

Anika was 4-over 148 with two-time winner on the tour Mina Harigae comfortably poised to take a third win at the Orange Tree Golf Club.

If she does so, Harigae, who took successive titles at Mesa and Fountain Hills in late April and early May, will match Germany’s Sophia Popov who also has a hat-trick on the tour.

Popov is not playing the Orange Tree Challenge, while Harigae leads the field by four shots.

Anika’s first round had three bogeys against two birdies and on Wednesday, she dropped four shots against one early birdie.

Minute’s silence at Fort Worth

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour returned to action with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, with a gesture towards efforts aimed at ending social and racial injustice that currently roils America.

Nearly half the field will already be out on the Colonial Country Club course later in the day at the Charles Schwab Challenge when, for a brief minute, action will stop, the PGA Tour said.

As part of efforts to amplify efforts to end racial and social injustice, the Tour set aside an 8:46 a.m. tee time that will feature no players.

Symbolic time

The time has been set aside here in Fort Worth and also at TPC Sawgrass, which hosts the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge, as 8:46 has become a symbol for the racial injustice faced by the black community.

“A great word that I’ve sort of been thinking of over the last couple of weeks is tolerance,” Rory McIlroy told the PGA Tour on Wednesday.

“I think everyone can just be a little more tolerant, and a little more educated and not as ignorant.

“Nowadays, and going back into history, there has never been a place in society for what has gone on in the world over the past however many hundreds of years.

“The fact that it does seem to be this real will to change and have reform is amazing,” the   reigning FedExCup champion noted.

Hoping for change

“It’s been a great thing to see, and I hope it continues to be in the conversation. As we move forward, I think people have learned a lot over the last few weeks, and hopefully we’ll see things change as time goes on.”

George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, touching off worldwide protests.

On June 1, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan addressed the issue and later sat for a conversation with Harold Varner III to further discuss the Tour’s potential role in the national conversation and solution.

“I think there will be discussion, and I think some people will forget about it. I think so many people will move on, but the conversation I had with Jay when we weren’t being recorded, I think this week won’t be the last,” Varner said.

Also read: Anika back on Cactus trail with pro debutant Nishtha Madan