Rejuvenated Saaniya starts favourite at Clover Greens

Buoyed by her first title of the season last week, Saaniya Sharma will start as firm favourite at the 14th leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour 2015 to be played at the Clover Greens here from tomorrow.
The INR 5,00,000 event will see 14 professionals and lone amateur Trisha Sunil vying for top honours, and will be played from August 12 to 14.
Saaniya, who rejuvenated her form with an inspiring victory at Coimbatore, will be eager to sustain her winning run and break into the top five in the money list.
The Chandigarh professional, who is currently languishing in the latter half of the leaderboard with one win from 13 appearances, will however have to overcome the twin challenge from Delhi's Vani Kapoor and Panchkula's Amandeep Drall, who occupy the first and second positions, respectively in the money list.

Vani, currently leading the Hero Order of Merit with total earnings of INR 13,65,200 from 13 appearances, would be eager to add another title to her tally. She has four wins and six runners-up finishes, and will look to get back to winning ways and clinch her fifth title of the year.
Rookie Amandeep Drall, sitting on the second position in the merit list with earnings of INR 9,54,935 from 13 appearances, will also start as one of the strong contenders.

Amandeep, who has played consistent golf throughout the season with one win and three runners-up finishes, will be keen to assert her supremacy in the tournament and reduce the deficit with Vani at the top of the leaderboard.

Kolkata's Neha Tripathi, occupying the third spot in the Order of Merit with total earnings of INR 8,62,766 from 13 appearances, will also look to set the ball rolling and annex her first title of the year.
Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal with total earnings of INR 6,06,566 is currently at the fifth spot in the money list. She will be eager to make an impact and push hard for her maiden professional victory.
The event will also see the return of Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet. The Bengaluru golfer, who skipped the last two events due to her European commitments, is yet to open her account this year and will look to break the jinx and end her title drought at the Clover Greens.

Pune's Shweta Galande will seek to take inspiration from her title winning performance here in 2013, and finish the week on a high by clinching her second ever win on the tour.
Delhi's trio of Mehar Atwal, Gauri Monga and Ankita Tiwana, and Jaipur's Afshan Fatima are the other contenders. Veteran Smriti Mehra, who is fourth in the order of merit, is playing overseas and will not playing here.