Golfers Vani, Amandeep, Neha back for Hero WPGT 8th leg

Seasoned golfers Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor and Neha Tripathi will return to compete in the eighth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour starting here on Wednesday.

Amandeep, Vani and Neha played the Ladies European Thailand Championships last week and skipped the domestic event. That enabled Gaurika Bishnoi to overtake Amandeep on the money list.

One of the features of the Hero WPGT this year has been the number of players who have won tournaments. Five different players have won the seven legs held so far, with only Amandeep and Vani winning twice.

That underlines the competitiveness on the Tour, which has been growing with the coming of new girls into the professional fold.

In the recent months, three talented amateurs turned professionals. While Suchitra Ramesh turned professional in April, Tvesa Malik and Millie Saroha shifted ranks only last month and Tvesa tasted success in her first venture as a professional, winning the title last week.

While the newcomers are trying to make a place for themselves on the Hero WPGT, two highly successful players in recent years have yet to win this season.

Kolkata veteran Smriti Mehra, who has won 33 titles in nine years of the Tour, had a best of second place in the second leg at Ahmedabad, while Bengaluru's Sharmila Nicollet, grappling with injuries and indifferent form, has had a best of tied-third in the fourth leg in Kolkata.

Amandeep has never finished outside the top-10 with two wins and three second place in five starts this season. Vani has won twice and once finished third in three starts. So those would be the ones to look out for at Clover Greens this week.

Vani, Gaurika and Smriti go out in the last group in the first round, while last week's winner, Tvesa will play alongside Mehar Atwal and Sonam Chugh.

Newcomer Suchitra has been paired with Sharmila in a two-ball, while Mehar's sister, amateur Sehar has been paired with another amateur Ankita Kedlaya.

Amandeep (Rs 5,88,000), who was overtaken last week, is only Rs 25,900 behind Gaurika (Rs 6,13,900) and will therefore look at gaining the top spot once again.

--IANS

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