By Rahul Banerji
Asmitha Satish of Bangalore continued to lead the way with a round to go in the ongoing trials to pick the India team to the Queen Sirikit Cup amateur women’s championship at the Noida Golf Course on Friday.
Asmitha’s five-round total of 390 saw her open a further one shot cushion over her closest pursuer, Mysore girl Vidhatri Urs on 396, while national women’s champion Sneha Singh of Hyderabad continued to occupy third place on a five-day total of 400.
The top two are automatic picks for the 42nd edition of the Queen Sirikit Cup and a third selection is made at the discretion of the Indian Golf Union.
The tournament this year will be held at the Pondok Indah Golf Course, venue for the most recent Asian Games, in Jakarta, Indonesia, from March 10 to 13. It is officially known as the officially known as the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship.
Cold conditions
On day five of the trials, Asmitha had an 83 to go with her earlier scores of 78, 78, 74 and 77, while Vidhatri returned an 84 for the day. Her earlier cards were 77, 79, 79, 77 as cold winds continued to blow across Delhi-NCR.
Sneha, joint leader with Asmitha after the first three rounds of the trials at the Jaypee Greens, continued to struggle at the Noida Golf Course, hitting an 86 on Friday after earlier rounds of 81, 74, 75 and 84.
Close behind her are Chirangada Singh, Faldo Asia Series India leg topper Hunar Mittal and Rishika Muralidhar, in that order. Chitrangada and Hunar are on five-day totals of 401 with the day’s best cards of 80, while Rishika is a shot behind.
The trials conclude on Saturday.
Sharmila, Vani move up
Sharmila Nicollet and Vani Kapoor made significant gains at the ongoing five-day Ladies European School Qualifying School on the North and South Courses of the La Manga Club in Spain
After three rounds, Sharmila had climbed into a share of 33rd place with a 3-under round of 70 on the par-73 South Course to go with her earlier scores of 77 (South) and 74 on the par-71 North Course. She is on a 4-over total
Vani was a shot behind in shared 39th place on a 5-over total following a 1-under 70 on the North Course. She had earlier cards of 75 and 75, while Amandeep Drall hit a 4-over 75 on Friday to share 69th place on a 9-over total 225.
According to the LET website, of the 120 players competing, the top five are eligible for LET Membership in the top category.
Players from the sixth to 20th places will be eligible for membership in Category 8a. Players who have made the 72-hole cut to the leading 60 and ties and finished in position 21st and below, will be ranked according to score and be eligible for membership in Category 9b.
Players failing to make the cut after 72 holes, will be eligible for LET membership in a lower category still and ranked in final score order.
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