Amateur woman golfer Gurbani triumphs in ninth leg

Amateur Gurbani Singh played a flawless final round of three-under 69 that powered her to victory by five shots in the ninth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Royal Springs Golf Course here.

Gurbani got birdies on the fifth, 12th and 13th holes and got a 69 to add to her earlier scores of 68 and 74 for the 54-hole total of five-under 211 on Thursday. In the process, she also became the first amateur to win this season.

Delhi youngster Vani Kapoor, Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal and Panchkula's Amandeep Drall finished tied second at even-par 216.

The final two rounds were played on Thursday at Royal Springs Golf Course due to heavy rain on Wednesday.

Gurbani Singh struggled a little in the second round, carding two-over 74. However, she quickly turned things around and played a bogey-free final round to emerge victorious by a big margin.

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani carded 71 to finish tied second with Amandeep (70) and Gursimar (72). Vani carded three birdies on the second, 10th and 18th holes while dropping shots on the fourth and 14th.

Amandeep had an indifferent start and played a birdie-less front nine with two bogeys on the third and sixth holes. However, she showed great composure in the latter half and fired four quick birdies on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes to finish the round with an impressive score of 70.

Gursimar carded four birdies on the third, 10th, 14th and 15th with an equal number of bogeys on the first, fourth, seventh and 16th.

Kolkata's Neha Tripathi carded 70 to take the fifth position with a total score of three-over 219. She finished ahead of Delhi's Gauri Monga and Pune's Shweta Galande, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.

From Srinagar, the 19-leg Tour now moves to the picturesque Eagleton Golf Resort, Bengaluru for the 10th leg to be held between July 8 to 10.