JOIN USVani bags maiden crown
Talented teenager Vani Kapoor completed a crushing pole-to-finish victory in the third leg of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour here on Thursday.
Just two weeks after suffering an agonising play-off defeat to Sharmila Nicollet on her pro debut, the 18-year-old Delhiite gave her promising career a wonderful upswing, burying the opening leg ghosts with a scintillating eight-shot triumph at the Prestige Golfshire.
On a day when most things clicked for her, Vani remained focused despite being in a commanding position throughout, mastering the punishing course on the foothills of
Nandi Hills with a fine one-under 71 to sign off at 219.
Kolkatan Neha Tripathi shot her best round of the tournament, carding a 73 to finish runner-up while Smriti Mehra just failed to find any sort of rhythm, tumbling out of contention very early with a five-over 77.
“It’s a dream come true for me to be standing with the winner’s cheque,” said a delighted Vani, who also won a pro event as an amateur last season. “After the fifth hole, I knew the title was mine. I didn’t want to goof it up like last time and was aiming a 10-shot victory. In the end, I could only manage eight, nevertheless I am happy.”
Although most of the field have struggled to piece together a decent round on the links style course that has taken a huge toll on their scoring, Vani made herself at home, thanks to her superb driving. Hitting the ball straight as an arrow, she hardly veered off track, showing wonderful maturity. She also backed it up with a fine short game, very crucial on the rock-hard greens here that also threw up extra challenges with its layered set up.
The fact that her playing partner and seasoned campaigner Smriti ran into all sorts of trouble from the very beginning made it easier for Vani. Appearing in some discomfort, the veteran tried hard to push the teenager but her hopes went up in smoke by the fourth hole itself when she dropped shots twice -- 1st and 5th holes -- to trail by six shots.
Seizing the advantage, Vani sunk a fine seven-footer birdie on the fifth before nailing her second on the ninth to take the turn with a commanding eight-shot lead.
Vani’s lone blemish came on the 17th but victory was sealed much earlier.
Meanwhile, Aditi Ashok, despite a disappointing final-round 82, took the best amateur trophy after totalling 234.
Leading scores (after 54 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 219: Vani Kapoor (71, 77, 71); 227: Neha Tripathi (77, 77, 73); 229: Smriti Mehra (76, 76, 77); 230: Nalini Singh Siwach (74, 80, 76); 232: Saaniya Sharma (76, 81, 75); 234: Aditi Ashok (A) (74, 78, 82); 241: Nikita Arjun (A) (80, 81, 80), Ankita Tiwana (83, 76, 82); 251: Suchitra Ramesh (A) (82, 86, 83).