Young Indian golfer Diksha Dagar will look to put up a good show when she competes at 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open starting here on Thursday.
Dagar, who started her pro career around this time in Australia last year, is the lone Indian at the tournament. She did get to play the event last year, too, but missed the cut.
Dagar, who completed 19 in December, has been paired with Yula Saso of the Philippines and Jiwon Jeon of Korea in the first round and they will tee off from the 10th at the Beach course.
The Vic Open will see 144 women and 144 men tee off at two courses - the Beach Course and the Creek course. The cut will be applied after 36 holes with 70 players going on for the third and final rounds.
The experience Dagar gained in Australia last year included a fifth place finish at the NSW Open (co-sanctioned with Ladies European Tour) which earned her a spot in the SA Women's Open, a tournament she won.
The title win helped her to gain a full card on the Ladies European Tour.
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Dagar progressed well enough to gain spots on the AIG Women's British Open and the Evian Championships, but once again missed the cuts. She also played and missed the cut at the Scottish Open, which was also co-sanctioned with LPGA.
In 2019, Dagar grew in stature as she played more. Through the year in 19 starts, Dagar missed the cuts only in the two Majors, the Scottish and Jordan Mixed Masters and made the cut in the last six events of year on LET.
Now she gets a chance to showcase her talent on the LPGA Tour. After making it to the main draw as the first reserve, she could gain further with a good showing this week and earn a spot into the Australian Women's Open, for which she is currently a fourth reserve but is also scheduled to play the Monday qualifiers.
The defending champion at Vic Open is Celine Boutier of France, who won her maiden title last year by two strokes over Charlotte Thomas and Sarah Kemp after overcoming a two-shot deficit at the end of 54 holes.
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