By Rahul Banerji
Sitting pretty on a six-shot lead overnight, Ridhima Dilawari made it a wire to wire effort to win the 14th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Noida Golf Course on Friday by as many shots for her fourth title of the season.
The former Delhi Public School head girl had the luxury of bogeying her final two holes for a 1-over 73 card but still had enough in the tank to finish on 3-under par 213, well ahead of second placed Tvesa Malik and Amandeep Drall.
Ridhima’s four titles put her ahead of Tvesa by one after the NGC display though the latter was the only one to bring in a sub-par round on the final day.
Tvesa and Amandeep Drall (73) shared second place on 3-over par 219 while first day co-leader Diksha Dagar, who shot 78 on day two, had a 73 to finish fourth on 220.
Order of Merit leader Gaurika Bishnoi ended a none-too-happy week with a 75 and was fifth on 223.
Astha Madan (73) and Saaniya Sharma (76) were sixth and seventh respectively, while Ananya Datar (75) and Smriti Mehra (81) were tied for eighth place on 234.
Ishvari Prasanna (78) and Siddhi Kapoor (79) were tied 10th on 235s.
Steady going
Starting with a solid cushion, Ridhima was steady through the front nine with eight pars and a birdie on the ninth hole.
A further gain put her 2-under for the day, but three dropped shots, two in her closing two holes meant she had put a 1-over 73 on the board, but by then she knew there was plenty of leeway.
Tvesa, nine shots behind at the start, dropped two shots by the seventh hole but back-to-back birdies ensured she was level par 36 or the front nine.
A birdie on 13thand another on the 18th meant she finished at 2-70. For her part, Amandeep bogeyed twice in her final three to drop into a tie for second place.
Diksha played steady golf for the first 12 holes before dropping shots on the par-4 13thand 15thand her solitary birdie of the day came on the Par-3 16th.
Gaurika stays atop the Hero Order of Merit, while Amandeep and Ridhima move up one place each to be second and third. Neha, second at the start of the week, slipped to fourth after finishing 15th.
Also read: Tvesa, Diksha gear up for first green Hero Women’s Indian Open
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