Two-way battle shapes up for WPGT Order of Merit in Chennai

By Rahul Banerji

Neha Tripathi has one final chance to top the Order of Merit when she tees up for the 16th and final leg of the 2023 Hero WPGT season in Chennai.

The event at the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation’s Cosmo Club will see the only player to have won three times this year on the Women’s Pro Golf Tour try and unseat long-time leader Sneha Singh.

Neha, who won the 15th leg of the Tour to go with two earlier titles is now only Rs. 27,792 behind Hyderabad’s Sneha while Seher Atwal is a long-shot contender for the season’s top honours, the WGAI said.

With a win, the experienced Neha can take the Order of Merit, even if former national champion Sneha finishes in second place, making it a winner-take-all scenario between the two.

If neither win at Chennai, Neha must make Rs. 27,793 more than Sneha to overhaul her. The Hyderabad youngster, for her part, needs to ensure that she finishes close to Neha who has discovered a rich vein of form this season.

Outside chance

Seher, who trails Sneha also has a mathematical chance of getting to the top with a win. For that she would need Sneha to finish outside the top 14 and Neha to place sixth or lower.

Neha and Seher can go into the week with a positive frame of mind as they along with Ananya Datar, who had tied for ninth at the LET Pre-Qualifier Asia in Gurgaon, have been added to the field for the Final Stage next month in Morocco.

Tvesa Malik, who topped the Pre-Qualifier, has opted to miss the 16th Leg as she prepares for Morocco and also attends to personal matters.

The closing leg of the season has 22 players with a purse of Rs. 8 lakh on offer. Though there will be no cut, only the Top-14 will get to share the prize fund.

Round one tee times

7:30 am: Karishma Govind, Ravjot K. Dosanjh

7:40 am: Jasmine Shekar, Geetika Ahuja

7:50 am: Shweta Mansingh, Rhea Purvi S., Sneha Singh

8 am: Rhea Jha, Durga Nittur, Ridhima Dilawari

8:10 am: Agrima Manral, Neha Tripathi, Gauri Karhade

8:25 am: Srihitha Mandava (A), Ananya Datar, Yaalisai Verma

8:35 am: Seher Atwal, Snigdha Goswami, Anaggha Venkatesh

8:45 am: Ishvari Prasanna, Khushi Khanijau, Anisha Agarwalla

Also read: Neha completes wire-to-wire run at RCGC leg of Hero WPGT