Three-up Ridhima looks for another as BGC plays first-time host

By Rahul Banerji

Bangalore continues to host the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour with the 10^th leg scheduled to open at a first-time venue and three-time winner Ridhima Dilawari looking to extend her solid run of form.

The historic Bangalore Golf Club will play host to the Rs 19 lakh event that has a field of 25 professionals and three amateurs.

Delhi golfer Ridhima, who turns 21 in two weeks, will be quite happy to guver herself an early birthday present within a few days of her last title that came as the nearby Prestige Golfshire course.

Ridihima faces competition from Gaurika Bishnoi, who was off colour last week, Neha Tripathi and Afshan Fatima, runner-up in the Prestige Golfshire event.

Amandeep Drall, still looking for her first win this season and Gursimar Badwal could also pose a strong challenge.

Ridhima opens with two relative newcomers, Anisha Agarwalla and Shriya Vivek, while Gaurika tees up with Oviya Reddi and Suchitra Ramesh.

Talented amateurs

The field also has three amateurs, the talented Pranavi Urs, Asmitha Sathish, who has time and again sparkled and the young Rhea Saravanan. 

Ridhima’s wins so far have come in the fourth, sixth and ninth legs from her six starts this season. Apart from her, the other multiple winners this season have been Tvesa Malik and Gaurika Bishnoi with two wins each.

The field will have a two-tee start with the first flight going off at 10 am.

The only other time a WGAI event has had a two tee start was in the final round of an event in Srinagar in 2015, when the second day was washed out and the players played 36 holes in a single day. 

Round one tee times

Tee 1:

10 am : Pranavi Urs (A), Ishvari Prasanna, Khushi Khanijau;

10:10 am: Tanirika Singh, Mehar Atwal, Gursimar Badwal;

10:20 a : Jyotsana Singh, Anousha Tripathi, Siddhi Kapoor;

10:30 am: Gurjot Badwal, Smriti Mehra, Amandeep Drall;

10:40 am: Afshan Fatima, Komal Chaudhary, Ananya Datar;

Tee 10: 

10 am: Anisha Padukone, Asmitha Sathish (A);

10:10 am: Tavleen Batra, Sonam Chugh;

10:20 am: Shriya Vivek, Anisha Agarwalla, Ridhima Dilawari;

10:30 am: Rhea P Saravanan (A), Neha Tripathi, Gauri Karhade;

10:40 am: Suchitra Ramesh, Gaurika Bishnoi, Oviya Reddi;

Also read: Atwal continues 3M Open surge; season’s third win for Ridhima