By Rahul Banerji
Anika Varma made it an outing to remember at the Hero Women’s Indian Open 2019, recording the best finish by an Indian amateur since Meghna Bal 12 years ago as she came in fifth overall eight shots behind the winner, Christine Wolf of Austria, on Sunday.
The 15-year-old added a second successive sub-par score to finish on 3-under 285 as Wolf, who famously imploded on the 18th hole last year cruised home by three shots from Marianne Skarpnord of Norway at the DLG Golf and Country Club.
The HWIO is in fact something of a happy hunting ground for first-time winners. Last year, it was the veteran from Wales, Becky Morgan, who scored a breakthrough win after 19 long years on the Ladies European Tour and this time, it was the turn of the 30-year-old Austrian.
Three years ago, Aditi Ashok too earned her first ever significant title at this very course
No mistakes
Wolf had missed out agonisingly in 2018 when in the lead to allow Morgan through to the title. This time, there was to be no such errors as the 30-year-old chalked up her first individual LET victory, by a comfortable three-shot margin over Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord.
Buried deep were memories of a hole that had cost her eight shots last year from a double bogey-par-quadruple bogey-double bogey sequence besides the title.
Unlike Saturday, Wolf sent her third shot sailing over the green and into the bunker but calmly recovered to seal the $75,000 winner’s cheque and her maiden Tour title.
“I’m super happy obviously with this first LET win, but also that I did it here,” a beaming Wolf said later. “Everyone knew of last year’s drama coming into the week here so to win by three shots was very nice. But you can’t get ahead of yourself in golf and I was obviously a little nervous.”
“I love the course, I already knew that coming into this week. Everyone knew about the drama that went on last year. I just wanted to come back and enjoy it.
“Today I said to myself that there’s a lot of golf to be played and not to get ahead of yourself. I just tried to stick to my gameplan.”
Clean sheet
In fact, from Saturday itself it was evident that the Austrian would be the one to beat in the closing stages and so it turned out as Wolf picked up early momentum to gain three shots in her front nine, and never let the advantage go with a clean back nine for a 3-under round of 69 and an 11-under par aggregate of 277.
It saw Wolf finish three ahead of the impressive Skarpnord who had just a lone bogey in her 2-under par round of 72 and an 8-under aggregate 280. England’s Meghan MacLaren was third on 7-under 281 after having closed to one shot of the leader midway through the final round.
Anika was one shot ahead of best-placed home professional Tvesa Malik, who was tied sixth on 1-under 287 and 14,438 Euros in earnings.
Tvesa had finished as the best-perfoming home golfer in tied 13th alongside Gaurika Bishnoi last year, so Sunday’s result was a significant advance for the LET rookie as well.
‘Nervous’
“I was pretty nervous in the beginning but as soon as I hit my first tee shot I felt fine,” Anika said later. “I had a good group (with Sweden’s Ema Nilsson and Manon De Roey of Belgium) today and I enjoyed playing with them. That helped me play well too.
“I was pretty consistent today, just had one double (bogey) on the 16th. Before that I was doing pretty good and I didn’t miss a single regulation before the 16th hole, I think only that one and the 18th, which was the highlight of my day.”
‘Happy overall’
Added Tvesa, “I think it was a little bit more of a struggle but I am happy with my overall performance for the week. I think I am happy with my game and the way I handled the pressure on the course, so I’m quite pleased overall.
“I missed a lot of putts so that wasn’t a great part of my game. On the 18th hole, I definitely wasn’t expecting that to happen at all (chip-n from off the green) so I’m glad I could make a birdie from there.
“I’ve learnt a lot this year and my game has progressed. I’m happy with the way I have been playing but there’s still a long way to go. But I think I’m on the right track.”
The result carried Wolf to third on the LET’s order of Merit while Skarpnord went two better, climbing to the top of the rankings.
Diksha Dagar dropped one place after the week to 16 after finishing tied 32nd on eth back of 7-over 295 aggregate and a 2-over 74 for the day.
Astha Madan was tied 19th on 2-over 290 while Vani Kapoor was T21 on 3-over 291.
Also read: Drall leads Indian charge into weekend rounds at HWIO 2019
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