By Rahul Banerji
Becky Morgan is back to defend her Hero Women’s Indian Open (HWIO) title in what she calls her favourite destination and golf course as the tournament gets under way at the DLF Golf and Country Club from Thursday.
The Welshwoman, who won her breakthrough Ladies European Tour title at this venue last year said on Tuesday ahead of at the Skills Challenge, the traditional ice-breaker at the $500,000 HWIO, “I love coming to India. It’s my tenth visit and I just love this course.
“Actually I liked it even when we played at the other course, Delhi Golf Club a couple of time.”
“It was almost the end of the season when I won last year and it’s not been very great this year, but I am hopeful of a good defense of the title,” added Morgan.
Morgan’s best this season was a T14 at the Australian Ladies Classic at the start of the year.
Into its teens
The Hero Women’s Indian Open will run from October 3 to 7 and enters its teens this week with the 13th staging. It is also the 10th anniversary of Hero MotoCorp’s title sponsorship and the 10th year as a Ladies European Tour (LET) event.
India’s two tops stars from 2018, Tvesa Malik and Gaurika Bishnoi did remember when the Women’s Indian Open began in 2007.
Tvesa said, “I was definitely not playing golf 12 years ago, probably just starting out. But I do remember six years ago, I used to live in Bangalore and me and my sister flew down to volunteer for the Indian Open.
“I got to score some of the groups, walk around and got a lot of free golf balls from the top pros. That was amazing and to think about the journey from volunteering and watching the pros play to now getting a chance to play myself feels almost surreal.”
Added Gaurika, “I had just started playing golf around 2007. I remember we used to have the Indian Open over here. Laura Davies (in 2010) would come and she would hold the clinic and we were just little kids who would be so excited to see our idols and volunteering for the Indian Open.
“It has definitely been a long journey from walking with players and writing the scores to actually playing the event and doing well in it.”
The Hero Women’s Indian Open 2019 will be telecast live on DSport for the first two days from 12.30 pm and from noon for the final two days.
Speaking of the time, when WGAI first began its journey with the Women’s Indian Open back in 2007, its president Kavita Singh said she had full confidence that setting up an international event was the right step.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have been here if I didn’t have total confidence in what we were doing. We were at our nascent stages when we started off with just four or five pros. It has been a long and tough ride. But I have to say all our sponsors have been amazing.”
Solid field
Apart from defending champion Morgan, the international participants include 2017 winner, Camille Chevalier and stars like Carly Booth, Beth Allen, Meghan MacLaren, Marianne Skarpnord, Kanyalak Preedasuttijit, Astrid Vayson de Pradenne, Florentyna Parker and Linda Wessberg.
The field will include 22 Indians, professionals and amateurs. The home challenge will be led by Diksha Dagar, winner of the 2019 South African Women’s Open in March, Vani Kapoor, Gaurika, Tvesa, Ridhima Dilawari, Amandeep Drall, Astha Madan, Gursimar Badwal and others.
The six amateurs in the field are Sneha Singh (winner at a domestic professional event at Hyderabad), Pranavi Urs, Seher Atwal, Anika Verma, Hitaashee Bakshi and Jahanavi Bakshi.
Feeder Tour finale in Lucknow
Meanwhile, the Tata Steel Professional Golf Tour of India Feeder Tour is staging the sixth and last event of its 2019 season at the Palms Golf Club & Resort in Lucknow, with a prize purse of Rs. 8 lakh.
The 76-strong field are playing over three rounds with the cut after the first two days with the top 36 and ties making the grade.
Usually, the top 60 from the 2018 PGTI Order of Merit are not eligible for the Feeder Tour but two spots have been allocated at all Feeder Tour events for this year and at Lucknow, they have gone to local golfers Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Kumar.
The winner of this year’s Feeder Tour Order of Merit earns an exemption on the main tour for the 2020 season.
Other prominent local golfers in the field are former Indian Open champion Vijay Kumar, Rishi Kumar (currently ranked 5th in the Feeder Tour Order of Merit) and Amardeep Rawat (10th).
Gurgaon-based Dhruv Sheoran and Kushal Singh and Delhi’s Wasim Khan, are among the top contenders at the event.
Also read: Solid home lineup confirmed for Hero Women’s Indian Open
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