Mahreen Bhatia, 16, became the only amateur to win on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in 2025 in the season-ending 15th leg at Jaypee Wishtown Golf Course last week. Image courtesy WGAI.
By Rahul Banerji
Mahreen Bhatia showed a clean pair of heels to a field of experienced professionals to win the year’s final women’s tour event at Jaypee Wishtown last week.
The 16-year-old became the first amateur to win on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour this season, the WGAI said.
Mahreen returned cards of 68, 66 and 67 to total 12 under par 201 and emerge triumphant by three strokes over season’s rankings topper Vani Kapoor.
The last amateur to win on the Hero WPG Tour before Mahreen was Nishna Patel in the first leg of the 2024 season last January.
Vani, a five-time winner this season, topped the Hero Order of Merit with earnings of Rs 21.16 lakh, ahead of Amandeep Drall (Rs 15.62 lakh).
Top gear
Mahreen, who led by two shots at the start of the final day, began with two pars and then hit top gear, getting birdies on holes three and five with an eagle in between.
By the time Mahreen and Vani made the turn, the former had moved four shots clear but a two-shot swing followed as Mahreen dropped her first shot on 11 and Vani birdied 12.
However, the teenager showed great composure and picked up shots on 14 and 15 even as Vani birdied 12 and 14 but dropped a shot on 15.
With three holes to go, the teenager was once again four shots clear and could afford to drop a shot on 17 and par 18 for a total of 12-under 201 for 54 holes.
Vani finished the week with cards of 69, 67 and 68 and totalled 9-under 204. Sneha Singh (70) was third on 5 under and Jahanvi Bakshi (70) fourth on 3 under.
Equal day’s best
Jasmine Shekar, who shot the day’s equal best of 67, was fifth at 1 under 212.
Only five players finished under par for the week as seven went sub par in the final round and two others carded level par rounds. Mahreen’s 66 on the second day was the best card of the week.
First round leader Lavanya Jadon (71), Kriti Chowhan (72) and amateur Saanvi Somu (72) were tied for sixth on 1 over 214.
Khushi Khanijau (69) completed the top 10.
There has been at least one amateur winner each year on the Hero WPGT since 2016 including Diksha Dagar, Pranavi Urs, Sneha Singh, Ridhima Dilawari, Avani Prashanth, and Vidhatri Urs.
Others include Aditi Ashok, Tvesa Malik, Gurbani Singh, Raksha Phadke and Meher Atwal among others.
Final rankings top 10
- Vani Kapoor Rs 21.16 lakh
- Amandeep Drall Rs 15.62 lakh
- Jasmine Shekar Rs 14.69 lakh
- Sneha Singh Rs 14.51 lakh
- Ridhima Dilawari Rs 13.12 lakh
- Lavanya Jadon Rs 11.15 lakh
- Kriti Chowhan Rs 10.62 lakh
- Khushi Khanijau Rs 10.25 lakh
- Neha Tripathi Rs 10.16 lakh
- Durga Nittur Rs 9.83 lakh
Also read: Vani’s closing birdie hat-trick seals her fifth title at Rambagh
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