Neha Tripathi, winner of the 15 Leg of Hero WPGT
Kolkata, Nov 17: Neha Tripathi turned in yet another steady round of 1-over 73 at the rather challenging Royal Calcutta Golf Club to become the first player to win more than twice on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour. Neha won the 15th Leg of the Hero WPGT by a whopping nine shots over Tvesa Malik (76) for her third win of the season.
Despite the win, Neha was still Rs. 27,792 short of leader Sneha Singh (76), on the Order of Merit. Sneha finished seventh at 16-over 232.
Right behind Neha and Tvesa, who finished first and second, was amateur Anaahat Bindra (73), who was tied third alongside Ridhima Dilawari (79), who had a nightmarish final round.
Shweta Mansingh (78) was fifth, while Khushi Khanijau (78) was sixth and Sneha was seventh. Jasmine Shekar (77), Ananya Datar (77) and Yaalisai Verma (78) were tied for eighth to complete the Top-10.
Neha who shot 72-73 in the first two rounds to take a four-shot lead into the final round, had one birdie on the fourth and bogeys on fifth and the 15th to more than double her 36-hole lead.
Tvesa had two bogeys and a double bogey and no birdies in her 76 as she finished second but was disappointed with her scoring this week. She had rounds of 74-77-76 and at 11-over 227 she was nine behind the winner.
Amateur Anaahat Bindra was one of the only four players to have two birdies in her round. She birdied the eighth and the 15th, while bogeying the 10th. At 1-under through 16 holes she looked like becoming the only player to card a sub-par round this week before she bogeyed the 17th and the 18th.
Ridhima had a rough day with six bogeys and a double and just one birdie on the 14th in her 79 despite which she was tied third alongside Anaahat.
It was yet another tough day for scoring with only Anaahat, Ananya Datar (77), Jyotsana Singh (79) and Rhea Jha (81) getting more than one birdie. However, barring Anaahat, all others also gave a lot of bogeys and double bogeys.
On the Money list, Sneha stayed on top with Neha lying second. Seher Atwal, Tvesa Malik and Khushi Khanijau occupy the next three places.
The 16th and final leg of the 2023 season will be held at the TNGF, Chennai from November 22 to 24.
