Pranavi seventh at ATS Korea as Kim scores popular home win

Hyo-Joo Kim was a popular home winner of the Aramco Team Series Korea in Seoul on Sunday. Image courtesy let.com.

By Rahul Banerji

Pranavi Urs continued her impressive Ladies European Tour debut season with a seventh-place finish at the Aramco Team Series Korea in Seoul on Sunday.

The Mysore player recovered from a second-round blip to close with her second 3 under par 69 in three rounds and total 1 under 215, nine strokes behind popular home winner Hyo-Joo Kim.

Only the top seven players were under par over three days at New Korea Country Club in Seoul.

Diksha Dagar in her 100^th LET start fought back well from a slow start to card her only sub-par round of the event, a 1 under 71 that gave her a share of 37^th place on 6 over 222 (79-72-71), while Vani Kapoor was T60 on a 228 aggregate.

The result carried Diksha back into the top 10 on the LET’s Order of Merit where she is now ninth on 470.50 points.

Pranavi was making her sixth LET start and this was her second individual top 10 finish after fifth place at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.

She also has two tied sixth placings at the ATS team events at Tampa and now in Seoul.

At the top, 2104 Evian Championship winner Kim (68-70-68) lived up to her favourite billing at the Aramco event presented by PIF Korea to win by three shots on 10 under 206, the LET website said.

Solid finish

Leading by two shots heading into the final round, she held off Charley Hull of England who had a closing 4 under 68 to go with earlier cards of 72 and 69 to end the week on 7 under 209.

Kim said: “I haven’t won on the Ladies European Tour before so this is very meaningful and makes this win all the more special for me.

“My performance this season has been disappointing. Ending the tournament in Korea on a positive note feels like a turning point for me. I feel confident and energised to perform well in upcoming tournaments like the US Open and the Olympics.”

Playing alongside Hull and recent winner Mariajo Uribe from Colombia, Kim with given early breathing when both dropped shots on the opening hole.

Hull lifted her game on the front nine with five birdies before the turn. Kim responded with two birdies of her own to lead by one shot.

With the clinical victory, Kim picks up her second victory on the LET after the co-sanctioned Evian Championship – her only major win to date – in 2014.

Hull matched Kim’s score to record yet another runner-up finish on the LET.

“I’m pretty happy with the way I played,” she said. “I played solid all day but Hyo-Joo just kind of ran away with it at the end. I just couldn’t hole the putts coming in. But I’m happy with my week. It’s when you come second again but it’s OK.”

Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe and South Africa’s Casandra Alexander shared third place on 5 under 211, the latter returning the day’s best of 5 under 67.

Earlier, Danielle Kang led Lily May Humphreys (England), Tian Xiaolin (China) and amateur Kyu Ho Lee to victory in the parallel team competition on a combined 23 under total.

Also read: Rain hits ATS Korea, all three Indians poised to make the cut