Vani clinches golf title at Eagleton

Delhi youngster Vani Kapoor played a splendid round to walk away as the winner in the Rs.7 lakh 10th leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Eagleton Golf Resort here on Friday.

Vani started as the joint leader and returned with a card of 4 under 68 in the final round, the best by any golfer in the tournament, to win her fourth title of the season in 10 appearances. Saaniya Sharma of Chandigarh carded 1 under 71 to claim the runners-up spot.

Order of Merit leader Vani, a favourite here, played brilliantly to finish with a final score of 214. She started the day on a positive note playing a bogey-free front nine with two birdies on the first and seventh holes. On the back-nine, Vani carded birdies on 13th, 17th and 18th while her only blemish was a bogey on the 12th.

She now has more wins than any one else in the season and her victory here will open up a substantial lead in the money list.

Saaniya started the day in third spot and made her intentions clear with a birdie on the first hole. She played a bogey-free front nine and kept up the chase. Saaniya began the back nine carding a birdie on the 10th and 13th. However, two bogeys on the 12th and 17th undid her effort and she had to be content with second with a score of 219.

Amateur Diksha Dagar and Neha Tripathi finished tied-third as their campaign ended with an identical score of 224. Diksha, one of the six amateurs playing here, started off with three consecutive bogeys on the first, second and third. However, she adjusted herself to the conditions and played a blemish-free back nine with two birdies on the 11th and 13th to end at 2 over 74.

Kolkata's Neha Tripathi dropped four shots on the second, ninth, 11th and 15th with a lone birdie on the fourth to finish with 3 over 75.

Defending champion Mehar Atwal, who started the day at tied-first, carded a birdie on the first hole. However, she could not sustain the momentum and dropped shots on the second, sixth and eighth along with double bogeys on the seventh, 13th and 16th. Eventually, Mehar ended at 7 over 79 and took fifth position with a total of 225.

Panchkula's Amandeep Drall, Delhi's Ankita Tiwana and Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal all ended with 226 to finish tied sixth. Pune's Shweta Galande with 227 and amateur Suchitra Ramesh with 229 ended ninth and 10th respectively.