Harpal Singh Bedi / Greater Noida
Gaurika Bishnoi, who claimed her first title of the season last week, starts strong favourite as the sixth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour tees off on Wednesday at the Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida.
The sixth leg will carry a purse of Rs.Eight lakhs and has 21 professionals and four amateurs.
With the Hero WPG Tour having five different winners in the so far , Gaurika will have to battle it out with Amandeep Drall, who return to the domestic Tour after a superb Top-20 performance at the NSW Open in Australia.
Interestingly, Amandeep, considered one of the strongest and consistent players on the home Tour, is yet to win in her four starts this season.
Neha Tripathi, current leader on the Hero Order of Merit, and Gursimar Badwal have already registered one win each this year and both will be looking at becoming the first multiple winner of 2019. Ridhima Dilawari will be playing with similar ambitions.
As many as four young amateurs are in the field, along with veteran Vandana Agarwal, who makes an appearance after a long time.
Of the five winners this season, only Tvesa Malik’s name is missing. Tvesa, Diksha Dagar who had a Top-5 finish last week at NSW Open and Astha Madan are also not in the field. Their names are featuring in the Investec SA Women’s Open in South Africa from March 14.
On Wednesday, Vandana Agarwal and Siddhi Kapoor are paired in the opening two-ball, followed by amateur Nayanika Sanga in her maiden appearance and Ayesha Kapur in the second. The first three-ball features Ananya Datar, Amandeep Drall and Khushi Khanijau, while the fourth group has amateur Anika Varma, Gaurika Bishnoi and Smriti Mehra.
Amateur Natalii Gupta, Sifat Alag and Gursimar Badwal will play together in the fifth group, followed by Neha Tripathi, Ishvari Prasannaand Mehar Atwal in the sixth.
The seventh group comprises Suchitra Ramesh, Tavleen Batra and Anousha Tripathi. Ridhima Dilawari, Jyotsana Singh and Afshan Fatima make up the penultimate group, followed by the final grouping of Anisha Padukone, amateur Asmitha Sathish and Komal Chaudhary.