Ridhima makes winning start in 2021

Bengaluru, January 15

Ridhima Dilawari carded a third straight under par round to complete a start-to-finish win in the first leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour 2021 here on Friday.

Ridhima (71-67) brought home a card of 1-under 71 on the final day to finish the week with a total of 7-under 209, giving her a comfortable five-short win over Pranavi Urs (70).

Vani Kapoor had better luck with the birdies on the final day and returned a card of 2-under 70 for an even par 216 and finished third.

Underlining the growing strength of promising women amateurs on the Indian golfing scene, Disha Kavery also shot a 70 to finish fourth, while Ananya Datar (70) was fifth.

Ridhima, who began the day with a 6-shot lead, once again had a rocky start with a double bogey on the par-5 3rd.

"(There was) no tension. I was playing good, just had a bit of a brain freeze on one shot," she said after the day’s play.

Shrugging aside the double, Ridhima birdied the 4th and added another on the 8th. A bogey on 9th saw her take the turn at 1-over, but she was still way ahead of playing partner Pranavi (70), who had an eagle on the par-5 3rd, and turned in even par 36. Pranavi had bogeyed the 3rd and 4th.

On the back nine, Ridhima played steady and made no errors and sealed her win with birdies on the 16th and 18th.

Pranavi bogeyed the 10th but birdied the 12th, 16th and 17th to keep Vani Kapoor at bay. Vani had four birdies against two bogeys in her 70.

"Among the main things I worked on during the quarantine was my short game, especially my putting, because I felt like I needed to put in some more work there so now it's going well so far," said Ridhima, who represented India at the 2018 Asian Games before turning pro.

"Hopefully that continues. I have also been working a lot on my fitness and trying to get some more power and increase my swing speed."   

Hitaashee Bakshi (73), amateur Sneha Sharan (70), and Seher Atwal (74) tied for sixth, while Neha Tripathi and Amandeep Drall (75) completed the top-10.

One of the highlights of the final day was a hole-in-one by Oviya Reddi (69), who shot the best card of the day but ended tied-18.

Shweta Mansingh, who was tied with Oviya for the 18th place, had a superb run of birdies on the front nine, when she holed four in a row from 3rd to 6th and another one on the 8th. But she also gave away a lot of bogeys and ended with a 75.

The second leg will be held at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course in Chennai from January 20 to 22 with the practice day being on January 19. PTI

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