Nishtha Madan. Pic: Noah Montgomery
March 11: Nishtha Madan battled hard to recover from a crippling quintuple bogey midway through the front nine, but failed to stay afloat and finished second in the Apache Creek Dallas Cup.
Nishtha, who led the field by three shots, finished with a final round of 77 and a total of 2-under 214 and ended second. Nishtha, who was one-over through five holes, had a +5 on Par-3 sixth and never recovered. She played the remaining 12 holes in one-under, but the damage was too big to repair.
Emrey Allison, who was lying third and four behind Nishtha played a fine round of 69 and finished 6-under 210 and a winner by four.
Sophie Hausmann, who was lying second also had a rough day with 84 and ended T-12.
Nishtha Madan leads by three on Cactus Tour
Nishtha Madan, a two-time winner on the Cactus Tour in the United States, opened up a three-shot lead over Sophie Hausmann of Germany at the Apache Creek Dallas Cup.
Nishtha has preferred to stay on in US and play the Cactus Tour, while her sister, Astha Madan, is playing on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, the Indian Women’s domestic Tour.
Nishtha shot six-under 66 in the first round to lead by one and then added a 1-under 71 but extended her lead to three shots over Hausmann (67-73). Allison Emrey (70-71) is in third place.
Nishtha had four birdies and a closing eagle on first day against no bogeys, while in the second she had four birdies against three bogeys.
Nishtha, who turned pro last year, has since won twice on the Cactus Tour, which hit big-time fame, when one of its regulars Sophia Popov, won overnight stardom by winning the Women’s British Open after getting an entry into the women’s Major.
Nishtha had won the Kentucky Open last July and at Sun City in September.
Interestingly, Hausmann, who lies second behind Nishtha, stayed with fellow-German Popov during the pandemic. As Popov hit big time and went into the LPGA, Hausmann has been waiting for Symmetra Tour, the second run to LPGA, to start. Last year she moved to Arizona to play Cactus when all else was shut.
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