Golfer Vani claims back-to-back titles

Vani Kapoor carded 1 over 73 in the final round to win the Rs.7 lakh second leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Kalhaar Blues and Greens here on Thursday.

This is Vani's second consecutive title as Kiran Matharu finished runner-up with a total score of 216.

Order of Merit leader Vani started impressively, carding three birdies on the first, fifth and seventh holes while dropping a shot on the third. However, she could not sustain the momentum in the latter half, dropping four shots on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 17th but a birdie on the 15th proved vital for her to secure a single shot victory over Kiran. She finished with 215 after 54 holes.

England's Kiran carded 2 under 70, the only sub-par score of the round to finish with a level par 216. She had a shaky start and carded a bogey on the third. Thereafter, she composed herself and carded two birdies on the sixth and 10th along with an eagle on the 12th to put herself in contention for the title. She added another birdie on the 17th but two consecutive bogeys on the 14th and 15th meant that she had to settle for second.

Panchkula's Amandeep Drall carded an even par 72 on the second consecutive day to take third. Her round included four birdies on the fifth, 10th, 16th and 18th with two bogeys on the third and 17th. She also had a double bogey on the ninth to finish with a total of 218 after the final round.

Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal returned with a card of 5 over 77 to finish fourth. She carded two birdies on the first and 14th holes while dropping shots on the second, fourth, ninth, 10th, 15th, 16th and 17th to finish with 227.

Delhi's Ankita Tiwana finished fifth (231) followed by Kolkata's Smriti Mehra (232) and Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma (234) in sixth and seventh places respectively.

The tour now moves to the historic Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata for the third leg to be played from February 2 to 5.