Seher Atwal wins cliff-hanger at Golfshire with final hole birdie

By Rahul Banerji

Seher Atwal broke a sequence of seconds with a winning birdie on the 18^th hole at the Prestige Golfshire course near Bangalore on Friday.

Victory in the 10^th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour was her first title of the season after runner-up finishes in her last two starts.

A dramatic battle unfolded on the final day with no less than four contenders for the title at different times, the WGAI said.

Seher (72) lost her overnight lead early on the front nine and rookie pro Sneha Singh led at the turn with a 2-under 34 front nine. Nayanika Sanga (70) then made a charge to set the clubhouse target.

For early leader Neha Tripathi, the putts just would not fall. She ended with par on 18 and a level par 72 when birdie would have forced a play-off with Seher.

The winner on the day had three birdies against no bogeys over her last 10 holes.

Nayanika, a Gurgaon golfer who turned 18 last month, did well to finish with a 2-under 70 that left her one short of Seher and in a tie for second with Neha (72).

Seher started the final day one shot ahead of Neha, but dropped three early shots against one bogey for Neha, giving the latter a one-shot edge at this point before a birdie swelled the lead.

The battle became intense as Seher birdied nine and Neha bogeyed for a two-shot swing that brought them level, but both were two shots behind Sneha, the third player in the group.

Brief lead

The Hyderabad teenager played a superb front nine with four birdies and two bogeys that handed her the lead for a brief while.

Seher birdied 11 to go ahead of Neha who pulled level with a birdie on 12 and the duo stayed level till they came to 18. Seher pulled off a birdie, while Neha missed out.

Hyderabad teenager Sneha had a roller-coaster of a final day. She was going great guns till the turn but faltered thereafter with bogeys on 11 and 12.

A birdie on 16 brought her back to 3-under and alongside Seher and Neha.

Sneha’s chance ended with bogey on 17^, and she parred 18 for a 72 that balanced five birdies and five bogeys. She finished on 2-under 214 in fourth place.

Nayanika, playing one flight ahead of the lead group, started the day three shots behind Seher. She birdied 10 and 13 and finished 15 minutes ahead of the leaders with birdie on 18 to set the clubhouse target at 3-under 213.

All at stake

When Seher and Neha came to the 18^th tee, they too were on 3-under and tied with Nayanika.

The prospect of a three-way play-off loomed large but Seher ended that with birdie for a well-deserved and much-needed win.

Pranavi Urs (70) made another attempt to get into the frame, but the first day’s 76 held her back and she finished on 1-under 215 for fifth place.

Gaurika Bishnoi (70) and Hitaashee Bakshi (70) were sixth and seventh while amateur Vidhatri Urs (71) was eighth.

Gauri Karhade (72) was ninth and amateur Keerthana R Nair (71) was 10^th.

Friday produced some excellent scores with as many as six of the top-10 coming in under par. Four others in the top 10 and Anisha Agarwalla in T17 were even par for the last round.

Pranavi Urs (Rs. 9,90,500) stayed in front on the Hero Order of Merit, while Seher (Rs. 6,91,500) made a big move from sixth to second.

Hitaashee Bakshi (Rs. 6,80,000) caught up with her sister Jahanvi, who did not play this week, to be tied third on the Merit list with identical earnings.

Also read: Seher Atwal edges ahead by a shot in second round at Golfshire