By Rahul Banerji
Bangalore teenager Avani Prashanth is the new queen of Indian women’s amateur golf, winning the 107th edition of the IGU All India Ladies Amateur Championship at the Noida Golf Course on Sunday.
In the final round of the match-play championship, the 15-year-old beat Greater Noida-based Kriti Chowhan, 17, 4&2. The two were also team-mates at the recent Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific in Abu Dhabi.
Avani, the top seed for the event moved past Anvi Dahiya in the first round of the match-play section of the championship and then got past 16th seed Mannat Brar 4&3.
In the quarter-finals, Avani ousted ninth seed Janneya A. Dasanniee 2&1, her closest match till that point.
Next up for the Laurence Brotheridge trainee was 20th seed Saanvi Somu who was brushed aside 4&3 to set up the 36-hole final showdown against Kriti, who trains at the Jaypee IGPN Academy under Monish Bindra.
For her part, the 10th-seeded Kriti ousted no. 23 Yashita Raghav 2&1 in the first round before seeing off 26th-seeded Fiza Ali.
In the last-eight stage, Kriti beat 18th seed Snigdha Goswami 2&1 before running into defending champion Sneha Singh of Hyderabad, who went down 6&5.
In the 36-hole final, the top seed, who has won twice on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour this year, prevailed 4&2. Avani was in fact, 6-up after 27 holes but Kriti fought back by taking the next three.
Avani then squared the 32nd and 33rd holes and won the 34th to close out the match.
The 2019 finale between Sneha and Hitaashee Bakshi at Mumbai two years ago was decided on the last hole after a titanic battle.
Avani told teetimetales.com that her experience on the WPGT had been invaluable.
Learing curve
“It’s been super helpful and has been a great learning experience because I get to play with the top pros in India amongst which there are pros who play on the LET like Tvesa (Malik), Amandeep (Drall), Vani (Kapoor) and Diksha (Dagar).
“The competition is super tight and I’ve learnt so much from them about how to manage oneself when things are not going according to plan.
“I have also been doing well on the tour winning two times and also being the top amateur in seven out of 10 tournaments I have played this year.”
Avani also credited her experience at the WAAP in Abu Dhabi as being a morale-booster and a good yardstick for her performance.
“The WAAP experience was great. I played against golfers who were better than me in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, some of them even T20 on the WAGR.
“I’m happy I finished T16, at par with world No.20 Lei Ye. My performance at the WAAP was the best by an Indian from India (Anika Varma was the best-placed Indian at Abu Dhabi, finishing inside the top 10 but is based in California currently).
“Even though I putt very well, I learnt there is much more for me to get better.
“I learnt my game off the tee, iron and wedge approach play was comparable against the best at WAAP, but I need to get substantially better around and on the green. I can’t wait to go back next year and win.”
Her father, M.S. Prashanth, has monitored his daughter’s fast-rising graph closely.
“After every round, Avani enters the data on Upgame pro and we sit down and analyse all that she did well and what were areas she could do better,” he told this website.
Focussed preparations
“Even lessons with coach Laurence are decided on that basis. We focus our energies on practicing more areas she can do better. We track this systematically tournament to tournament and practice round to practice round.
“The idea is to keep getting better where you need to get better and continue to sustain where you are doing well.
“All through tournaments we also never miss fitness, nutrition and mental conditioning. Keep things very simple and be consistent in following it in spirit and practice.
“I think Avani has progressed very well since the COVID pandemic. We had a set-up at home and we could practice everything except bump and roll chips at home.
“There was no discontinuity at all during the pandemic. We measure everything she practices and that led to continuous improvement almost every day in every aspect of the game that she practiced.”
On their plans for Avani, Prashanth said, “We have benchmarked Avani’s stats against the best in the business (world No.1 Nelly Korda, Aditi Ashok, Tvesa Malik) etc, and she has benchmarks she is chasing to improve her game.
“This way she knows how much of a journey she has to travel in each aspect of the game to be equal or better than the best in the world.
“Since she is going to be no. 1 by the end of the year in the IGU Order of Merit, we are targeting for her to be part of the national squad and represent India at amateur tournaments all over the world including the Asian Games.”
Also read: Avani wins her second title of Hero WPGT 2020-21 season
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