Khushi walks away with maiden golf title

Kolkata, December 17

Jaipur golfer Khushi Khanijau turned in a stunning birdie-birdie finish to emerge as a deserving winner in the 15th and final leg of the Women’s Pro-Golf Tour at Royal Calcutta Golf Club. Khushi (21), who turned professional in 2018, broke into the winner’s circle for the first time.

Khushi’s previous best was tied second, (alongside Tvesa Malik) and behind Amandeep Drall, in her rookie year in 2018 at the Boulder Hills in Hyderabad. Khushi became the fifth first-time winner in 2021 after Jahanvi Bakshi, who added three more wins, Seher Atwal and Lakhmehar Pardesi and amateur Avani Prashanth.

Khushi shot an even-par 72 on the strength of three birdies in the last four holes, during which she also had a bogey on 16th. Her round of 72, the best of the day, got her to a total of 229, one better than the trio of amateur Smriti Bhargava (77), Shweta Mansingh (77) and overnight leader Seher Atwal (80), all of whom tied for second.

As Khushi played in the second last group, she finished at 229 and waited for the final group. A birdie for any of the three, Smriti, Seher and Shweta, playing together, would have sent the tournament into a play-off. However, all three parred and stayed one behind to share the runner-up spot.

While Khushi landed four birdies, three of them in the last four holes, neither Smriti Bhargav nor Seher managed to find any birdies on the final day.

Khushi, starting the day seven shots behind the leader Seher, had a spotless front nine with one birdie on the par-4 sixth and eighth pars. She, however, suffered a setback on 10th and 11th, which she bogeyed. However, the lead group behind her were having problems of their own.

Khushi got an unexpected chance as the lead group started dropping a lot of shots. Smriti was two-over for the back nine, Shweta was three-over and Seher suffered with six-over 42 on the home stretch. In contrast, Khushi was just one-over and that helped her to become the clubhouse leader. She kept that lead as the final trio was unable to make any gains on the 18th.

Amateur Jahnavi Prakhya was fifth, while Lakhmehar was sixth and Oviya Reddi seventh. Saaniya Sharma, Neha Tripathi and Jyotsana Singh completed the top-10 in the final event of 2021. Amandeep Drall managed to stay ahead and win the Hero Order of Merit, which has been combined for 2020 and 2021. — TNS

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