Gursimar Badwal ended a 14-month title drought with a superb three-under 69 that saw her complete a fine rally and win the sixth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Friday.
Gursimar, whose last win came in the second leg of the 2019 season in Pune, had opened the tournament with a disappointing seven-over 79 and was T-13 after the first day.
She recovered from there with 67-69 in the second and final round to total one-under 215 and emerge a winner by two shots over Saaniya Sharma (67) and Vani Kapoor (72). Vani Kapoor may not have been able to win her second title but she did have the consolation of taking over the lead in the Hero Order of Merit after the erstwhile leader, Amandeep Drall had to withdraw from the final round.
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Saaniya Sharma made a big charge, including a birdie-birdie finish for a five-under 67. She jumped from Tied-10th to Tied-second place on the final day. Sharing the runner-up spot with Saaniya was Vani Kapoor (73-72-72), who played very consistently on all three days.
Neha Tripathi shot 71, one of the three sub-par scores of the day. She totalled two-over 218 and was fourth.
Overnight co-leader, Asmitha Sathish (74) suffered two double bogeys, one on the Par-4 seventh and another on par-3 17th.
Those errors cost her a chance to make a run for the title. She also had four birdies and two bogeys for a 74 that left her in fifth place.
Pranavi Urs (74) was sixth, while Siddhi Kapoor (74) was seventh and Gaurika Bishnoi (73) was eighth.
Amateur Hunar Mittal, who began with a superb 72 on the first day, and Oviya Reddi (79) rounded off the Top ten.
As Vani Kapoor took the lead in the Hero Order of Merit with Rs.4,91,000 in five starts, Amandeep Drall was second with ₹ 4,21,400 and Saaniya Sharma with this week’s runner-up finish rose to third with Rs.4,17,300.
