Harpal Singh Bedi / Gurugram
Hyderabad based teenager Sneha Singh will attempt to become the first ever amateur back-to-back winner in 2020 as she faces strong field in the eighth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the DLF Golf and Country Club here from Wednesday.
The 54-hole Rs.10 lakh event, the second one after the re-start of the Hero WPGT Tour, will feature as many as 30 players, the highest this year, including six amateurs.
Last week She stunned her senior colleagues with a confident start-to-finish victory, which was her second in a professional event.
This week the field is star-studded with the participation of three of the Indians who played on the Ladies European Tour during the summer.
Sneha will have to contend with the return of Tvesa Malik, who after a fine season in Europe, makes only her second start of 2020 and the first since the re-start.
Giving Sneha company from the amateur ranks will be Hunar Mittal, who signalled her arrival with a Tied-second finish with seasoned Amandeep Drall, who despite finishing behind Sneha took the winner’s cheque as the top pro.
Tvesa Malik had a superb season in Europe, though she skipped the season-ending Tour Championship. Tvesa finished 56th in the Order of Merit, and in 10 starts she made eight cuts including a T-4 at Flumserberg Ladies Open and T-10 at Ladies Open de France.
Diksha Dagar, one of the only two Indians to have won a title on the Ladies European Tour, also played 10 events, including a team event. She made the cut in four of the individual events in what was a modest season for her. Last week she finished out of the Top-10 in the 7th Leg, a rare occurrence for Diksha on the domestic Tour. This week she is out to make amends.
Astha Madan, another player who made three starts on the LET this season and had a best finish of T-52 in Dubai, also plays this week alongside Lakhmehar Pardesi and Geetika Ahuja.
Interestingly, there is one more player in the field who won back-to-back events in 2020, but that was before Covid intervened and halted the Tour. Pranavi Urs won the second leg as an amateur and then turned pro and immediately won her first start in paid ranks at the third leg.
Sneha Singh will tee off in the company of Siddhi Kapoor and Ridhima Dilawari, another player searching to find form after a long break.
The Hero WPGT Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor, Rhea Jha and Afshan Fatima will play together, while Diksha is grouped with Jahanvi Bakshi and Jyotsana Singh.