Jahanvi Bakshi cruises to maiden pro title on DLF course

By Rahul Banerji

Jahanvi Bakshi rode her overnight four-shot edge to hold off Vani Kapoor and land her maiden professional title at the DLF course in Gurgaon on Friday.

The breathing space Jahnavi (72) had was a bit beyond reach despite Vani’s valiant attempt on the final day of the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.

On the day, Vani came up with a 3-under 69 on a course both she and Jahnavi are familiar with but it was still not enough and she ended second for the third time in as many starts.

In the end, Jahanvi totalled 4-under 212 while Vani was level par 216.

Tvesa Malik (69) finally found rhythm and climbed to tied third alongside Hitaashee Bakshi, who was 3-under for the front nine and 4-over for the rest.

Amateur Avani Prashanth had another fine run and finished sole fifth with her best card of the week at 1-under 71.

Jahanvi’s win means both Bakshi sisters have now won once each on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.

Family gains

Hitaashee won last December and Jahanvi added to the family silverware on Friday. Clearly, the sibling rivalry works while rooting for each other at the same time.

The Bakshis were grouped with Vani in the final flight on Friday.

The work put in by the DLF Golf Excellence Programme supported by the DLF Foundation was adequately reflected in the results.

The DLF programme scouts for talented young golfers and then puts them through their paces in its state-of-the-art academy.

Vani and Hitaashee excelled on the front nine – Vani with a 4-under 32 and Hitaashee 3-under, but Jahanvi held her nerve on the tougher back nine.

While Jahanvi, Vani and Tvesa shot 1-over 37s on the back nine, Hitaashee went to 4-over 40.

Jahanvi started with two early birdies but dropped as many shots to open the door a little, though she birdied the ninth to be one-under 35.

Strong run

Vani ran through the front nine with four birdies against no bogeys. At that stage Vani, starting seven behind Jahanvi, had closed to four shots.

The gap narrowed further to two when Jahanvi double bogeyed the 10^th.

That was as close as Vani was able to get, as Jahanvi tightened her game, picking up two shots against one bogey for a round of 72 and a well-deserved win.

Vani meanwhile dropped two crucial shots just when she needed momentum and despite a birdie too, she was unable to make up lost ground with four pars in the last four holes.

“I am happy to be contending each week and have been second in the last three events, so the form is coming back,” said the affable DLF golfer.

Tvesa went on a birdie spree with five between the second and seventh holes. However, she had no more and she also dropped two shots but for which she may have finished runner-up.

Avani underlined her promise with a round that had six birdies, the most by any player on the day, but she also had five bogeys to finish with 71 for a creditable fifth place.

Lakhmehar Pardesi (78) was sixth, Oviya Reddi (76) seventh and amateur Hunar Mittal (76) eighth. Another amateur, Vidhatri Urs (78) and Amandeep Drall (80) ended in a tie for ninth.

Amandeep stayed in the Order of Merit lead with Vani on her heels but the gap narrowed to less than Rs. 90,000.

Ridhima Dilawari, Pranavi Urs and Neha Tripathi follow in that. order.

Also read: Jahanvi, Hitaashee Bakshi in the van at DLF; Nishtha misses out