Aug 17: Vani Kapoor, who had a solid Top-3 finish in the Netherlands last month, will along with Diksha Dagar, Amandeep Drall and Gaurika Bishnoi represent India at the inaugural USD$750,000 Simone Asia Pacific Cup in Jakarta. The unique three-day event gets underway at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, which three weeks ago saw Gaganjeet Bhullar win the Mandiri Indonesian Open and end India’s long title drought in men’s section.
India is fielding two teams with Diksha Dagar partnering Gaurika Bishnoi, while Amandeep Drall and Vani Kapoor have been put together.
Diksha has skipped the Aramco Series event on the Ladies European Tour in Sotogrande, Spain to play in Indonesia. It has been a modest season for her with two Top-20 finishes in Germany and the Netherlands. More recently she made the 36-hole cut in ISPS Handa Invitational but missed the 54-hole cut.
Amandeep Drall has played 13 events on LET this season and made the cut in seven with T-34 at NSW Open in Australia at the start of the year and T-37 at Estrella Damm Ladies Open as her best finishes.
Vani Kapoor last month logged her best career result on the LET with T-3 at Big Green Eggs Open in the Netherlands.
It is a wonderful opportunity for many of Asia’s competition starved golfers and the prize purse of USD $ 750,000 is a very good one.
A total of 22 teams of two players each are taking part with India being among those who have been allowed two teams. The other countries with two teams each are Japan, Korea and Thailand, while hosts Indonesia have been allowed three.
Japan’s major champion Hinako Shibuno declared she is ready to contend for the title after rediscovering her form at the recent Women’s British Open.
The 23-year-old, nicknamed the ‘Smiling Cinderella’, put a disappointing run of results behind her by finishing outright third in the major event that launched her stardom three years ago. Before that, Hinako had missed five cuts in her last seven tournaments.
Hinako is eager to carry the momentum into Pondok Indah Golf Course this week where she is set to do battle with fellow major winners Lydia Ko of New Zealand, Hyo Joo Kim and So Yeon Ryu of South Korea in the 44-woman contest.
Hinako, a winner of six Japan LPGA Tour titles, is also excited about competing in the Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series for the first time. Hinako will have an added motivation to do well this week as she will be joining forces with her younger sister Kiriko, 19, for the first time where they look to mount a serious challenge for the team title. Kiriko is still an amateur and plays collegiate golf in Japan.
The 54-hole event, which tees off from August 18-20 at the Pondok Indah Golf Course, offers a competitive total prize fund of USD $750,000 that will be enjoyed by all 37 professionals from the 44-player field as it is a no-cut event.
