By Rahul Banerji
Hitaashee Bakshi, emerged winner in only her second event as a professional as the 2020 chapter of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour wrapped up at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Friday.
Hitaashee (70) totalled 2-under 214 for the tournament beating overnight leader Amandeep Drall (73) by three shots.
Amandeep capped a fine season to top the Hero Order of Merit. She had earlier won the eighth leg and finished as top pro in the seventh.
Hitaashee, 16, who made her first start as a pro in the eighth leg and finished eighth, won this time with a 2-under par 70 that gave her the only under par total of the week.
Hitaashee finished runner-up to seventh leg winner Sneha Singh at the All-India Amateurs in Mumbai last December in a tight battle.
On Friday, she became the second rookie this year to win in her maiden season. In March, Pranavi Urs won on her first start as a pro, a week after topping the field as an amateur.
Top round
The lowest card of the week was from Seher Atwal (69), who finished tied third alongside Ridhima Dilawari (73).
Astha Madan (72) at 3-over 219 was tied for fifth with top-finishing amateur Avani Prashanth (74).
Hitaashee was level par through the first nine holes and got her first birdie on the 10th even though she had moved into a comfortable lead by then.
Amandeep had an error-filled front nine with a double bogey at the first, a triple bogey on the Par-4 seventh and a bogey on Par-5 ninth.
The Kapurthala golfer had just one birdie and shot 5-over 41 for the front nine, at which stage Hitaashee had raced to a four-shot lead.
Hitaashee took over the lead on the very first hole with a par as Amandeep double bogeyed to flip her overnight one-shot lead into a one-shot deficit.
On the back nine, Hitaashee birdied the 10th, 14th and 18th from almost nine feet after her only blemish of the day on the 17th.
Brave bid
Amandeep made a bid on the back nine with three birdies but her mistakes on the front nine proved too costly.
“I knew I had a chance and I could win after the start,” said Hitaashee, who hugged her elder sister, Jahnavi, waiting for her at the 18th green.
“I felt confident and I am glad I could manage that,” added the smiling Hitaashee.
A product of the Army Golf Club, Hitaashee and her sister, Jahanvi, now train at the DLF Golf and Country Club as part of their excellence programme and are coached by former India international Anitya Chand.
“We are moving from Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon for their golf,” said her mother, Sunita.
Happy Daddy
Her father, Navneet, an Army man, confessed this was the first time he was seeing his daughters play in a pro event and was thrilled to see it marked with a win.
“I am off to the North-East for my next posting and it is so wonderful to see them both play well.”
Shagun Narain (73), Neha Tripathi (74), Vani Kapoor (75) and Diksha Dagar (75) tied for seventh place on 5-over 221.
Tvesa Malik (75) and Asmitha Sathish (75) tied for 13th behind amateur Nayanika Sanga (71) and Afshan Fatima (72), who were tied 11th.
Amandeep (Rs. 8,14,400) comfortably finished on top of the Hero Order of Merit, while Vani Kapoor (Rs. 6,94,650) finished second. Saaniya Sharma (Rs. 5,05,800) was third.
The WGAI Tour resumes with the first leg of 2021 from January 12 to 15 at Prestige Golfshire near Bangalore.
Also read: In-form Amandeep holds one-shot lead with a day to go
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