Gursimar Badwal found her touch in time to return a four-under 68 to grab her maiden title of the season as she won the ninth leg of the Hero Womens Professional Golf Tour here on Friday.
The 24-year-old Kapurthala golfer, who had shot 71 and 75 in her first two rounds earlier, took her total to two-under 214.
This is only the second win for Gursimar on the Hero WPGT and her first win came 18 months ago at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC), when she won the fifth leg of the Tour.
Interestingly, she had a closing 68, even at the BPGC, but that was Par-70, while Prestige Golfshire, where she emerged victorious on Friday, the course played to a par of 72.
Gursimar finished two shots ahead of overnight leader, Neha Tripathi, who tripped on the final day with a 75 and ended at even par 216.
Playing in the second last group, Gursimar started the day five shots behind Neha. But Gursimar gave herself a good chance with birdies on first and third. In the meantime, overnight leader, Neha, playing in the last group bogeyed second, double bogeyed third and bogeyed the fourth again.
As Neha dropped four shots in first four holes, Gursimar gained two. The swing of six shots meant the Kapurthala girl had moved ahead. From there Gursimar made no mistakes and despite a bogey on ninth she had three fine birdies on back nine on 12th, 13th and 16th. Neha had a bogey on seventh but had birdies on 12th and 14th.
Gursimar finished at two-under 214 and waited for the final group, which had Gaurika, who had a chance of picking up another title but faltered with a double bogey on 17th and a bogey on 18th. Gaurika finished with a round of 74 and a total of 217, and was third behind Gursimar and Neha.
Amateurs Pranavi Urs (71) and Ridhima Dilawari (74) showed they could hold their own against the professionals, as they tied for fourth place at two-over 218. Mehar Atwal (71) was sixth at 221.
Amandeep Drall (74) and Afshan Fatima (71) were tied for seventh at 223, while Vani Kapoor had her worst result of the season on domestic Tour with a final round of 78, also her worst for the week. With 225 she tied with Suchitra Ramesh (72) for 9th place.
The results of the ninth leg kept the Top-3 in the same positions on the Hero order of Merit. Gaurika was still first with Amandeep Drall and Vani Kapoor at second and third. However, Gursimar leapt from seventh to fourth, while Saaniya slipped to fifth.
Also moving up was Neha Tripathi's whose second place in the ninth leg saw her rise from eighth to sixth.
The tenth leg is scheduled from August 30 to September 1 here.
--IANS
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