Determined Vani cruises to victory at Classic leg of Hero WPGT

Vani Kapoor was unshakable in her drive for a second Hero WPGT title of the year at the Classic GCC near Gurgaon on Friday. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji 

Vani Kapoor played a perfect back nine with one birdie and eight pars to register a comfortable win in the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Classic Golf & Country Club on Friday.

Riding a streak of form that has seen her take two runner-up finishes and victory at the Mumbai get of the tour, Vani carded a 1 under 71 to beat her nearest pursuers Ridhima Dilawari (70) and Rhea Jha (73) by three shots, the WGAI said.

It was the experienced Vani’s second straight win, having won at the Bombay Presidency last month.

One of the most successful players in the history of the Hero WPGT, the DLF-based Vani led or co-led all the way at the Nuh course near Gurgaon.

She was the sole leader after the first round and then shared top spot after 36 holes with Amandeep Drall before cruising to a fine victory at the end of the week.

Revived run

To do so, Vani had to overcome an opening bogey on Friday but revived her title run with birdies on holes three and six before dropping a second shot before the turn.

It was on the back nine that the DLF golfer’s push for victory really came alive. By then Amandeep and Rhea Jha, the third player in the lead group, were both 2 over for the front nine with two bogeys each.

Ridhima with a string of seven pars followed by birdies on holes eight and nine did make a bid but with just one gained shot on the back nine could not gain enough momentum to haul in the front-runner.

Rhea put herself out of the running with three bogeys in the first 11 holes and even the two birdies on 15 and 17 were not enough to make a run for a maiden title.

No gains

Amandeep (71-74-75) continued to struggle with consistency and dropped three shots against no gains to tie for fourth place with Neha Tripathi, who swapped four birdies for as many bogeys in a level par 72.

Order of Merit leader Sneha Singh (77-75-70), who won the second and third Legs, Kriti Chowhan (78-75-69), Yaalisai Verma (77-72-73) and amateur Ceerat Kang (76-72-74) shared sixth place on 6 over 222.

Kriti’s 3 under 69 on the final day was also the best card of the week.

Lavanya Jadon, Durga Nittur and Gauri Karhade were tied for tenth place.

Despite her T6 finish, Sneha (Rs. 6,65,567) stayed on top of the Hero rankings while Vani (Rs. 6,54,000) moved into a close second place.

Amandeep Drall (Rs. 3,95,300) and Kriti Chowhan (Rs. 3,92,934) are locked in a battle for third place.

Also read: Amandeep, Vani in battle for honours at Classic leg of Hero WPGT