Morgan clinches maiden pro title

At 44, Wales’ Becky Morgan picked her maiden professional title at the Hero Women’s Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Sunday.

Morgan’s rounds of 72, 72, 68, 69 provided her the total of seven-under-281 and a two-shot victory in her 18th year on the tour. Dane Nicole Broch Larsen, who hit two eagles in the final round, Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, Austrian Christine Wolf and Felicity Johnson of England finished at five-under to share the second position.

Morgan played a solid final round of 69, carding four birdies and dropping just one shot. She took her time on the last hole, finishing with par-putt, before clenching her fist in jubilation.
“It’s taken me 18 years and it’s a mixture of excitement and relief that finally I have done it. I didn’t look at the scoreboard until the 18th green because I knew anything could happen. I knew I was doing fairly well, because I was playing well, but I kept to myself and let it happen,” said Morgan, who had tied for second here in 2015.

“I decided I would just play my game and not worry about what anyone else was doing. I had the chance to win here three years ago but got too caught up in what was going on, so I needed to keep my head down.”

Morgan, part of a three-way lead overnight, gained from a double-bogey in the final 18th hole by Christine, whose third shot found the water. The howler sank her hopes of winning the maiden LET title. The 29-year-old had met a similar fate in the third round when after leading by three strokes, she hit a quadruple bogey on the 18th by twice hitting her shots in the lake, and slipping to tied fourth place.

After starting the day brightly, Christine again caught up with Morgan with a birdie on the 17th before fumbling at the final hurdle. “I played well today, from the start onwards and then 18 got me again. Maybe I need to change my strategy or something. Of course, you think a little about it, when you are standing there. It was sitting okay, it was just another quick swing,” Wolf said.

Morgan, who turned professional in 2000 and mainly plays at the LPGA, is one of the few players to have played in every edition of this competition since 2010. In the nine starts since, she has never missed the cut and finished in the top-10 four times, including the win this year in 2018.

Gaurika, Tvesa shine

Gaurika Bishnoi and Tvesa Malik were the top Indian players at tied 13th place with one-over-par Sifat Sagoo was the leading amateur in joint 33rd.

Leading scores (Indians unless mentioned): 281: Becky Morgan (72, 72, 68, 69, Wal), 283: Caroline Hedwall (69, 77, 69, 68, Swe), Christine Wolf (68, 68, 77, 70, Aut), Felicity Johnson (72, 72, 69, 70 Eng), Nicole Broch Larsen (74, 69, 69, 71); 287: Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras (68, 72, 78, 69), Supamas Sangchan (74, 71, 72, 70, Tha), Noora Komulainen(72, 72, 70, 73, Fin); 288: Sarah Kemp (73, 72, 71, 72, Aus), Karolin Lampert (75, 74, 67, 72, Ger), Olivia Cowan (71, 74, 69, 74, Ger ), Manon Molle (72, 70, 71, 75, Fra).