Nishtha takes season’s third title with Apache Creek win

By Rahul Banerji

Nishtha Madan won her third title of the season with a commanding five-shot margin on the Cactus Tour’s Apache Junction event on Wednesday.

The Delhi girl bounced back from her overnight shared second place to run away from the field with a final round of 5-under par 67. It followed up on her opening day’s 66 and a 68 on day two.

In all, the Sacramento State graduate was 15-under 201 for the three days of competition at the par-72 Apache Creek Golf Club.

Nishtha was level par 36 on her outbound nine with a birdie and a bogey but the back nine was another story altogether.

She birdied the 10^th and 11^th holes and closed her round out with a birdie-eagle sequence over the final two holes.

Repeat performance

Nishtha had eagled the par-5 18^th on the opening day as well. It gave her a comfortable cushion over joint runners-up Mia Landergrean of Sweden and Arizonan Juie Yang (10-under 206).

The 21-year old’s previous wins came at the Kentucky Open in July. She took the second title of her budding professional career at Sun City in Arizona in late September.

Wednesday’s title came at the 38^th event on the Cactus Tour that operates largely in Arizona and Nevada.

Good progress

Nishtha made her professional debut on the Cactus Tour in Scottsdale, Arizona, this May with a middling finish at an event won by Germany’s Sophia Popov.

The Noah Montgomery trainee won the 24^th edition of the Kentucky Women’s Open with some ease in July. She added a second at Sun City towards the end of September.

Meanwhile, India’s top woman amateur, Anika Varma climbed further in the World Amateur Golf Rankings to 169^th according to the latest ratings released on Wednesday.

Player update 📈 – @anikavarma05 moves to 1⃣6⃣9⃣th on the #WAGR from ⬆️ 1⃣7⃣5⃣th last week.

📸 @hitwiththetruth #news #California pic.twitter.com/foNGQmMLNu

— HWTT Tribe Updates (@HwttTribe) November 19, 2020

The 16-year-old, also a ward of the Roseville, California-based Montgomery, broke into the top 200 last month with solid performances earlier in the year at USGA events.

Those included a top-32 finish at the US Girls Championship in July and a slot at the US Women’s Four-Ball Championship along with fellow 16-year-old Meghan Royal at the Arizona qualifying tournament in September.

Last week, Anika was ranked 175^th on the WAGR.

Also read: Nishtha Madan claims maiden title at Kentucky Open