Tvesa Malik stands tall at the finish for year’s third title

By Rahul Banerji

Tvesa Malik warmed up for the Hero Women’s Indian Open now less than three weeks away with a gutsy display on the final day of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 13^th leg in Gurgaon on Friday.

Down a stroke with two holes to play, Tvesa did well to hold her nerve and turn in some steady golf even as overnight leader Diksha Dagar fell to a bogey-bogey finish on the Black Knight Gary Player course at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

Along with her tied 13^th place finish at the Open last year alongside Gaurika Bishnoi, Tvesa will go into the showpiece of Indian women’s golf in a good frame of mind and knowing she has matched the challenge of a difficult golf course.

Big boost

It was also her third win of the season along with Ridhima Dilawari, after having topped the third leg at Ahmedabad and the eighth leg in Bangalore. Tvesa now has three titles in five starts on the Hero WPG Tour.

But it was her display on Friday that caught the eye. With four holes to go Tvesa was three-over for the day but tightened her game to go par-birdie-par-par.

It gave the eventual winner a 2-over 74 card for the day and a 1-over 217 aggregate.

Playing in the same group, Diksha made a disastrous start with bogey-double bogey-bogey in her first three holes to turn in 4-over 40 for the front nine.

Late drama

However, the left-hander clawed back into contention with a brace of birdies and was in the lead with two to play when she dropped consecutive shots to allow Tvesa into the lead for a final time.

For her part, Ridhima turned a lean run around with a solid final round that had five birdies in all against two dropped shots for a 2-under round of 70 on the day. At one point, she even held the clubhouse lead at 2-over 218, only to see it slip away at the very last.

Playing behind her were Tvesa, Diksha and Gaurika Bishnoi, who had earlier put herself out of contention with a 4-over 40 on the front nine itself.

As the final group reached the last fairway, Ridhima waited to see the drama unfold. She needed both Diksha and Tvesa to bogey the final hole to get into a play-off.

Diksha did drop a shot but Tvesa parred to keep her nose ahead for the title, leaving the other two in shared second.

Gaurika (75) ended fourth, three shots behind Ridhima and Diksha. Neha Tripathi (75) was fifth, while Vani Kapoor (74) was sixth. Siddhi Kapoor (69) had the day’s best card with four birdies against an opening bogey.

Sisters Gurjot (76) and Gursimar Badwal (79) tied for eighth and amateur Jahnavi Bakshi (73) and winner of 12th leg Gauri Karhade (78) were tied 10th.

Also read: With Hero Women’s Indian Open looming, top field for DLF event