Neha grabs 14-shot win in 6th leg of Hero WPG Tour

Team Udayavani, Mar 23, 2018, 5:56 PM IST

Gurugram: Neha Tripathi capped an amazing week with a third successive sub-par round that gave her one of the biggest wins in the history of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.

A final round of three-under 69 with four birdies against one bogey, all on the back nine, gave her a week’s total of 16-under 200.

It was the best winning total of the season and also gave her a 14-shot win over the second-placed trio of Gaurika Bishnoi (71), Amandeep Drall (72) and Tvesa Malik (72).

The win was 26-year-old Neha’s first in the 2018 season and it also took her to the top of the 2018 Hero Order of Merit after six events. It also brought her a welcome win after three second places, including a play-off loss, in the previous five legs.

A day after setting the Classic Golf and Country Club on fire with a 10-under 62, Neha began the day with a series of nine pars on the front nine.

On the back nine, she birdied 10th and 12th and dropped her first bogey on the 15th. It was her first dropped shot since the 17th hole on the first day and ended a 33-hole bogey free streak. Neha quickly got back into her rhythm to birdie the 16th and 18th.

Neha’s effort was also the first time any player had played all three rounds under par with such consistency.

With Neha in blazing form, the field was left to fight for the second place. Gaurika made the move from fourth to join Tvesa and Amandeep in Tied-second place.

Interestingly, all the three second placed players also played all three rounds in par or under and it was the first time on the Tour this season that four players had played par or under in each of the three rounds.

Amateur Ridhima Dilawari turned in a fine result finishing fifth with a round of one-under 71 after 71-73 on first two days. She was followed by another amateur Sifat Sagoo (72-74-72).

Vani Kapoor (73) had a week that she would like to forget in a hurry as she ended seventh without a single under par round on a course that yielded very good cards.

Smriti Mehra (75) was eighth, with Gursimar Badwal (72) also having a disappointing week in the sixth leg. She was ninth and lost her lead on Order of Merit to Neha.

Gursimar is now second and trails the leader by just under Rs. 40,000. Tvesa Malik is lying third. Khushi Khanijau (75) was 10th.