Golfer Gursimar starts favourite in fourth leg of Hero women's Tour

Golfer Gursimar Badwal, who pulled away on the back nine to win the previous leg, will once again be the favourite as the Rs 700,000 fourth leg of the Hero women's Pro Tour that gets underway at the Oxford Golf Resort here on Wednesday.

Gursimar will once again face stiff competition from Neha Tripathi, Tvesa Malik, Ayesha Kapur and Saaniya Sharma, who comprised the top five last week.

Gursimar's hallmark has been consistency and that is what carried her through in the third leg. She will now be hoping to strike gold in back-to-back events in Pune, as she did in Bengaluru in 2017.

In the 2017 season, Gursimar won twice and finished in the top five on numerous other occasions. The Kapurthala golfer, who turns 25 on February 26, is looking at another solid season after having finished fourth in the Hero Order of Merit last year.

Gursimar holds the lead in this year's money list with earnings of Rs 274,000 while Neha is right behind her at Rs 246,000. Tvesa Malik (Rs 232,000) and Saaniya Sharma (Rs 202,000) are the next in the pecking order.

Kolkata's Neha, one of the two golfers to win three or more titles in 2017, is also hoping to open her account at the pristine Oxford Golf Resort, after coming close at the Poona Club Golf Course last week.

Some of other leading golfers like the Hero WPGT first leg winner, Vani Kapoor, Amandeep Drall, Gaurika Bishnoi and the second leg winner Sharmila Nicollet will miss out this week. Vani and Amandeep are playing the Australian Open qualifiers.

--IANS

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