Tvesa Malik wages strong battle to equal career-best finish at 6th in France

Evian-Les-Bains (France), June 6

Indian golfer Tvesa Malik recorded her second consecutive top-10 result and also equalled her career-best finish on the Ladies European Tour with a Tied-6th place at the Jabra Ladies Open, here.

Tvesa, who began the week with a modest 75, soared up the leader board with a 4-under 67 on the second day and closed with 1-under 70 on the final day for a total of 1-under 212 late on Saturday.

Tvesa had enjoyed a similar result at home in Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2019. Tvesa was tied with five other players, including Austrian Christine Wolf (67), Scot Alison Muirhead (68),  French golfer Anne.-Lise Caudal (69), Dane Linette Littau Durr Holmslykke (69) and Thai Atthaya Thitikul (74).

What undid Tvesa’s fine challenge was her scoring on the Par-5s. She dropped as many as four bogeys on them over three days.

She bogeyed two Par-5s on day one, one on second day and two more on the third and final day. In comparison she had just three birdies on the Par-5s. That cost her heavily.

Slovenian Pia Babnik, just 17 years of age, notched up her maiden win as she held her nerve in the crucial stages.

She closed the final with a birdie-birdie finish for a 70 and set a clubhouse target after starting in the second last group.

Babnik set the clubhouse target of 4-under 212 and defending champion Annabel Dimmock produced a birdie on 18th to force a. play-off, which Babnik won and is now likely to get a Tokyo Olympic berth.

Sanna Nuutinen of Finland shot 70 as did Felicity Johnson (70) for tied third, while other contenders Olivia Cowan, a co-leader after 36 holes, and Thai youngster Atthaya Thitikul also finished in the tie for third.

Tvesa had to come up with a strong second round to make the cut which she did with the day’s best score of 4-under 67 and went up to T-10 after being T-52 on first day.

On the final day, Tvesa birdied fifth, 11th, 16th and 17th. She, however, dropped shots on 10th, 15th and 16th.

Tvesa, who briefly held the lead last week on the final day, was tied second for a brief period this week when she was one shot behind Babnik and Dimmock. But the bogey on 18th saw her drop sharply and she ended Tied-6th.

Earlier, Dimmock’s challenge hit a roadblock with bogeys on 13th and 14th and she shot 72.

The win is also likely to get Babnik a Tokyo Olympic berth, while Tvesa hovers around the cut line, which will be decided in the final week this month.

Diksha Dagar logs Top-10 finish in Czech Republic               

Bystrice (Czech Republic): Indian golfer Diksha Dagar shot a final round of two-under 70 to settle for a morale-boosting tied 9th finish at the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge here.

The 20-year-old Indian, who had played at the Ladies Italian Open, fired four birdies in the last eight holes on the last day. Diksha, who is on a recovery path from an ailing back, had rounds of 74-73-70 at Golf Resort Konopiste. PTI