By Rahul Banerji
Gurgaon girl Tvesa Malik put away the disappointment of a missed cut at the AIG Women’s Open with a 20th place finish at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open on Sunday.
Having carded steady rounds of 70 and 72 on the first two days, the 25-year-old went 3-under 69 on Sunday at the Beroun Golf Club.
It was her best overseas finish, bettering the tied 27th place she had brought in at the Kenya Open last year.
Tvesa’s best though remains her tied sixth place at the Hero Women’s Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club last year.
Interestingly, both the winner and runner-up at Beroun are former winners of the Hero Women’s Indian Open.
Massive putt
Denmark’s Emily Pedersen sank a monster 80-foot eagle putt to seal her Sunday win in the Czech Republic to end a five-year title hiatus since her 2015 win in Gurgaon.
And runner-up Christine Wolf of Austria, who was four shots behind the topper, took the Indian Open title last year for her maiden win.
Overall, Tvesa was 5-under 211 at Beroun with some steady golf that would have come as a balm after the trauma of Royal Troon the previous week.
She opened well on Sunday with a birdie and then reeled off nine straight pars to turn in 1-under.
A further three birdies followed but a final hole bogey dropped Tvesa three places down the order to T20 alongside five others.
India’s other entrant, Diksha Dagar however, endured a disappointing final day’s score of 7-over 79 that included three birdies, five bogeys and three doubles against seven pars for a T67th placing.
Under pressure
According to the Ladies European Tour website, Pedersen opened Sunday six shots clear but came under early pressure from dropped shots and a hot chasing pack.
Six straight pars steadied her nerves with Wolf closing in all the time with five birdies in 11 holes.
Another dropped shot by Pedersen meant the lead was down to one shot before she picked up pace again on the 17th with a birdie before closing out the day with a long second shot over water and a massive putt.
“I wasn’t thinking about the score until after 16 and I was told I was one ahead so the birdie at 17 was really crucial for me,” the winner said later.
Rahm birdies for playoff win
On the PGA Tour, Jon Rahm got the better of world no. 1 Dustin Johnson in a dramatic play-off win at Olympic Fieldds to pocket the BMW Championship.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama settled for joint third for the second successive year, finishing two shots behind Rahm who triumphed with a 66-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, the PGA Tour said.
Matsuyama entered the final day tied for the lead with Johnson but a closing 1-under 69 in the penultimate FedEx Cup Playoffs event left him frustrated in his bid for a sixth Tour victory.
World no. 2 Rahm closed with a stunning 64 to force a playoff with Johnson, who had to make a 45-foot curling putt on the 18th hole in regulation to stay in the tournament.
Bit of magic
The Spaniard then produced magic of his own in the first extra hole to earn his fifth PGA Tour title.
The 25-year-old is now second on the FedExCup points list and will start the Tour Championship two shots behind Johnson on Friday.
“I knew how good DJ has been playing. I was expecting nothing else,” Rahm said later.
“I was fully confident it was going to come into a playoff and hoping to win it. Never did I think I would make another 50-, 60-footer, a couple of breaks in there, to end up winning it.”
Tiger Woods posted four over-par rounds for just the fifth time in his career and for the second time in a non-major at Chicago to miss on the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Also read: Indians fell short at Open, but an Arjuna was consolation
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