Avani Prashanth in action on day two of the Hulencourt Women’s Open in Belgium on Saturday. The Ladies European Tour rookie ended in a tie for fifth on Sunday, her best professional finish. Image courtesy LET.
By Rahul Banerji
Rookie Avani Prashanth brought in her best Ladies European Tour finish, a shared fifth place at the Hulencourt Women’s Open in Belgium on Sunday.
Avani started the final day leading by a shot but two early bogies were a setback she struggled to get over as fellow-rookie Darcy Harry of Wales played controlled golf to land her maiden LET title.
Bangalore teenager Avani (68-69-69-75) totalled 7 under 281 for the tournament to share fifth place with Ireland’s Lauren Walsh.
Diksha Dagar (72-73-70-72) tied for 23rd place on 1 under 287 and Tvesa Malik (76-70-71-76) finished 48th along with two others.
The result carried Avani into 24th place on the LET’s Order of Merit while Diksha is now 10th, down two places from last week.
At the top Darcey Harry celebrated her 22nd birthday week by recovering from an early bogey for a round of 68 and a 13-under 275 total for the week.
Best finish
The tied fifth place was the best finish for Avani as a professional and equalled her previous best, T5 at the 2023 Hero Women’s Indian Open, when she was still an amateur. She also has four Top-20 finishes this season.
Harry, one stroke behind Avani at the start also opened with a bogeyt, but the Welsh golfer was on fire from hole five, birdieing the fifth, eighth, ninth and tenth.
A bogey on 11 was brushed aside by an eagled 13th and birdie on 14.
At 14-under and four shots clear of second-placed Nastasia Nadaud (71). Darcey could afford a bogey on 16 before closing with two pars for a three-shot win.
Amelia Garvey (66) had one of the rounds of the day to rise from T18 to third, while Helen Briem had one birdie and one bogey in a round of 72 for sole fourth on 8 under.
Speechless
“I don’t even know what to say right now”, Darcey said on the Let website. “I’m so excited. I didn’t think I’d ever picture myself winning on the LET, so it’s so nice to know I’ve finally done it.
“I think I came out today to try and get a good score, so I wanted to prove to myself I could continue with another good show on the course.
“I wasn’t really thinking about the leaderboard which I think really helped me today.”
The LET heads to the Czech Republic next week for the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open at Royal Beroun Golf Club from June 20 to 22.
Also read: Pranavi, Diksha lose ground as Kim defends her Aramco title
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