Focus on Neha in seventh leg
The Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour resumes at the picturesque Prestige Golfshire golf course near Bengaluru after a threemonth break. The field, which includes the top three on the Hero Order of Merit led by Neha Tripathi, is ready for the seventh leg.
Neha, who won the sixth leg before the Tour broke for summer, will be a strong favourite. She registered the Tour’s best ever score of 10- under 62, while winning by a massive 14- shot margin at the Classic Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon.
While Vani Kapoor and Sharmila Nicollet, have been playing in Europe and on the Ladies Asian Tour, Neha, Gursimar Badwal and Tvesa Malik have chosen to compete at home. Vani and Sharmila won the first two events at the start of the season, but after that neither have played at home. In their absence, Gursimar has won two of the four, with one win each for Tvesa and Neha.
Neha and Gursimar have both been consistent. In her last four starts, Neha has won once, been second twice and fourth once. Meanwhile Gursimar, who won twice in her first five starts, finished her lowest, in ninth place at the sixth leg.
Smriti Mehra, Amandeep Drall and Suchitra Ramesh will be the other players to look out for.
With the golfers using the summer break to tune up their games, Prestige Golfshire should see some good action in the first event of the season in the southern part of the country. The next six events are all scheduled in the region.
Four amateurs figure in the field including Ridhima Dilawari, part of the India team for the Asian Games in Jakarta in August.