By Rahul Banerji
Fourteen-year-old Avani Prashanth of Bangalore pulled off the win of her life, beating an experienced field in the third leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in Mumbai on Friday.
Avani, a product of the Eagleton golf setup and who consults with Laurence Brotheridge of the David Ledbetter Golf Academy, beat an experienced field to the top spot with some comfort.
The teenager rode a final round of 3-under 67 to turn a three-shot deficit into a two-shot win at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club on Friday.
Avani started and ended the week with 67s with a level par 70 in between to finish on 6-under 204.
Hero Order of Merit leader Amandeep Drall (69) took second place with a 4-under 206.
Vani Kapoor (68) finished third on 208, while early leader Seher Atwal, still searching for her maiden win as a pro, dropped to fourth with a 5-over par 75.
Heavy going
Seher struggled on the front nine with a 40 to aggregate 1-under 209. The top four players all had sub-par totals.
Sisters Jahanvi (70) and Hitaashee Bakshi (71) were fifth and sixth, while Ridhima Dilawari (69), who won at BPGC as an amateur in 2018, was seventh despite an eagle finish.
Rhea Purvi Saravanan (74), Gauri Karhade (72) and Khushi Khanijau (75) occupied the eighth to 10th places.
Avani, who took her first steps in the game with her father M.S. Prashanth, has been playing competitive golf since age six.
She was picked by the Virat Kohli Foundation in 2019 and since then her career has been on the rise including a bunch of wins on the amateur circuit.
In the final round, Avani started in the lead group but was three shots behind overnight leader Seher.
An eagle on the first hole was followed by birdies on the fifth and eighth and despite a bogey on nine, Avani turned in 3-under 32 with the lead in hand.
Seher meanwhile had a rough day with three bogeys and two doubles against two birdies for a front nine total of 40.
Close behind
Amandeep, who was level par on the front nine and Vani Kapoor, who shot 2-under 33 on the first half, were on Avani’s heels till then.
The Bangalore girl however held steady with a swapped bogey for birdie on the back nine for a two-shot cushion in the end.
Overall, Avani had an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys in her 67, while Amandeep had five birdies against four bogeys.
Vani had five birdies against three bogeys, all on the back nine. Seher had three birdies, four bogeys and two doubles in her 75.
Amandeep continues to lead the Hero WPGT Order of Merit with Vani Kapoor and Pranavi Urs second and third. Ridhima Dilawari sits fourth.
Bhatia on the ball
Meanwhile, at the PGA Tour’s prestigious AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, US teenager of Indian origin Akshay Bhatia stood in a share of second place on 8-under 64, two shots behind Patrick Cantalay on Thursday.
The Los Angeles-born Bhatia was making his debut at the event on a sponsor exemption.
The bespectacled 19-year-old made eight birdies in a bogey-free round, his best ever in 26 starts as a professional. His previous best was a 6-under 66 in the first and third rounds of the 2020 Safeway Open.
According to the PGA Tour’s tournament notes, Bhatia became the first player to hit all 18 greens in regulation at Pebble Beach since 2008 and the sixth to do so since 1985.
He thus joined Jack Nicklaus (R4/1985), Peter Jacobsen (R4/1995), Tom Lehman (R4/2000), Davis Love III (R2/2006) and Ryan Palmer (R2/2008) in doing so.
Bhatia was making his first start at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and his 12th overall on the PGA Tour.
The left-hander has now posted an under-par opening-round score in 10 of his 11 PGA starts since turning professional and it was his first bogey-free round on the Tour.
Bhatia’s previous best opening round place was a T5 at the 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic and he is looking for his second career top-10 after a T9 at the Safeway Open in nearby Napa Valley earlier this season.
And in more good news for his fans, Jordan Speith continued his return to form with a 7-under 65 and a share of fourth place behind Cantalay.
Speith travelled to California on the back of a tied fourth place finish at last week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open that included a 10-under 60 in round three.
Also read: Seher leads Bombay Presidency field with a scorching 65
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