Amandeep, Vani share lead in 9th leg opener at Classic GCC

By Rahul Banerji

Experience held sway on the opening day of the ninth and final leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour with Vani Kapoor and Amandeep Drall tie for the lead at Classic Golf and Country Club on Wednesday.

The two, who are also battling to finish on top of the Order of Merit, had cards of 71 on the 6,270-yard, par-72 course near Gurgaon on the day.

Amandeep, one of only two in the field to have won twice in the truncated 2020 season, and Vani were one shot ahead of Ridhima Dilawari.

Debutant pro Hitashee Bakshi and Tvesa Malik, who had a noteworthy summer in Europe shared third place on 1-over par 73s.

Kapurthala’s Amandeep took the winner’s cheque despite finishing second behind amateur Sneha Singh in the seventh leg and won the eighth leg last week to displace Vani at the top of the OoM.

Amateurs Hunar Mittal and Avani Prashanth had 74s each as did the experienced Diksha Dagar to share sixth place.

Close bunch

Pranavi Urs, Asmitha Sathish, Rhea Jha, Lakhmehar Pardesi, Neha Tripathi and amateur Nayanika Sanga were all bunched together at tied ninth on 75.

Amandeep, who has been consistent since the re-start of the Hero WPGT two weeks ago, opened with a double bogey on the par-4 first hole.

She birdied the fifth but gave away a shot on sixth and parred the next three holes to turn in two-over.

On the back nine, Amandeep played flawlessly and had three birdies in her 71.

Vani Kapoor, who was off-colour in the last two events, turned in 2-under before a series of pars interrupted by a bogey meant she would finish in a share of the lead.

Ridhima had five birdies against five bogeys.

Hitaashee started with three bogeys but ended with four birdies in the stretch between 13th and 17th and shot 73.

Tvesa Malik had two birdies on either nine and five bogeys in her 73.

Scores, Round 2 tee times

9 am: Jyotsana Singh 87; Trimann Saluja 83; Vidhatri Urs (A) 83

9:10 am: Riya Yadav (A) 82; Ayesha Kapur 81; Smriti Mehra 80

9:20 am: Siddhi Kapoor 79; Saaniya Sharma 79; Gursimar Badwal 79

9:30 am: Rishika Muralidhar (A) 78; Anisha Agarwalla 77; Afshan Fatima 77

9:40 am: Seher Atwal 76; Shagun Narain 76; Jahanvi Bakshi 76

9:55 am: Astha Madan 76; Neha Tripathi 75; Lakhmehar Pardesi 75

10:05 am: Nayanika Sanga (A) 75; Rhea Jha 75; Pranavi Urs 75

10:15 am: Asmitha Sathish 75; Diksha Dagar 74; Hunar Mittal (A) 74

10:25 am: Avani Prashanth (A) 74; Tvesa Malik 73; Hitaashee Bakshi 73

10:35 am: Ridhima Dilawari 72; Amandeep Drall 71; Vani Kapoor 71

Year-ender for men’s tour at Jamshedpur

Meanwhile, in Jamshedpur, Tata Steel and PGTI will host the Tata Steel Tour Championship at the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses from Thursday.

The event offers a prize purse of Rs 1.5 crore and will feature a field of 125 professionals.

This is the seventh event of the 2020-21 Tata Steel PGTI season and is a 72-hole stroke-play championship with the cut applied after 36 holes.

For the first time in six years a PGTI event in Jamshedpur will be jointly staged at both Beldih and Golmuri golf courses.

In round one, half the field plays 18 holes at Beldih while the other half is at Golmuri. In round two, both groups switch venues.

After the cut, all players will tee off from Golmuri for their first nine holes before moving to Beldih to play their second nine for the final two days.

Star-studded field

The tournament features Anirban Lahiri (seven international wins), S.S.P. Chawrasia (six international wins), Gaganjeet Bhullar (10 international wins), Jyoti Randhawa (nine international wins), Shiv Kapur (six international wins) and Rahil Gangjee (three international wins).

Other prominent names in the field include defending champion Udayan Mane, India’s highest-ranked golfer Rashid Khan (282 in the world rankings), PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Khalin Joshi, Chikkarangappa S. and Viraj Madappa, to name a few.

Former Asia no. 1, PGA Tour regular and Olympian Lahiri, returns to Jamshedpur after nearly 13 years.

Lahiri, a two-time winner on the European Tour, last played in Jamshedpur during the 6th Tata Open in January 2008.

Shiv Kapur, a four-time winner on the Asian Tour, is back after 16 years. Kapur last played in Jamshedpur at the 3rd Tata Open in November 2004 where he finished runner-up.

Also read: Amandeep completes start to finish win in WPGT eighth leg