Slam-dunk for Avani Prashanth in Chandigarh Hero WPGT leg

By Rahul Banerji

There was no let-up for the chasing pack as Bangalore amateur Avani Prashanth completed a 13-shot win in the 15^th and final leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Friday.

Avani underlined her superiority with a third straight sub-par score, a 2-under 70, to cap her earlier cards of 68 and 66, giving her three of the five sub-par scores during the week.

Avani, who has not played much on the Hero WPG Tour this season as she was busy playing around the world, totalled 12-under 204.

The other two came from second placed Gaurika Bishnoi, who shot 70 on the second day and Seher Atwal, whose 69 was the best round on Friday for a tied fifth placing.

Hyderabad rookie Sneha Singh (77-72-75) took a share of third place, tied second amongst the professionals behind Gaurika.

Clean run

Avani dropped a shot on her opening hole but then reeled off nine pars on the run with many putts not dropping. She finally found birdies with back-to-back efforts shortly after the turn.

A bogey thereafter was quickly made up for with two further birdies on the final four holes.

Avani’s win at Chandigarh follows her twin successes on the Hero WPG Tour in 2021 when she won the third and 11^th legs.

Gaurika was the top professional at the event with a final round of 73. She had four birdies against three bogeys and a double for a one-over 217 total.

Sneha Singh totalled 224, 20 shots behind the winner and was tied with Lakhmehar Pardesi (73-75-76).

Khushi Khanijau, who had a hole-in-one on the day, carded a one-over 73 for shared fifth with Seher on 225, while Hitaashee Bakshi (74-76-77) was seventh on 227.

Saaniya Sharma (77-78-74), Rhea Jha (77-78-74), Afshan Fatima (79-75-75) and amateur Jia Kataria (73-79-77) were tied for tenth place.

Pranavi tops OoM

Pranavi Urs, who is playing at the LPGA Qualifying School this week in the United States, topped the Hero Order of Merit for the season.

Seher, who was third at the start of the week, finished in a tie for fifth this week and overtook Hitaashee Bakshi to finish second on the money list.

Hitaashee was pushed to third while Gaurika and Ridhima Dilawari were fourth and fifth.

Also read: Avani Prashanth opens 10-shot lead on day two in Chandigarh