Mysore teenager Pranavi Urs could afford the luxury of an even par round and still win the seventh leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour by a big margin at the Prestige Golfshire in Bengaluru. The 18-year-old Pranavi, who started the week with 67-66, added 72 to total 11-under 205, even as her nearest rival Jahanvi Bakshi failed to make any headway on the final day.
Jahanvi, who started the day eight shots behind Pranavi, carded 1-over 73 and finished at 2-under 214 and nine behind the winner.
The golfer bringing in the best card of the day was Asmitha Sathish (67) who moved from third to second place and amateur Vidhatri Urs (71) moved one place up from fourth to third. Asmitha totalled 7-under 209, while Vidhatri had a total of 2-under 214 and was tied third with Jahanvi.
This was Pranavi’s third win of the season, following successes in the first two legs of the year. She has also finished second once, as she cemented her place at the top of the Hero Order of Merit.
Pranavi, starting the day with a huge eight-shot lead, birdied the second and fifth holes, but then lapsed with back-to-back bogeys on sixth and seventh to turn in even par 36. She birdied the 10th but dropped a double bogey on Par-4 12th before picking another birdie on the 14th. It was her 19th birdie of the week. She closed with four pars and romped home an easy winner.
A good solid week for Pranavi showed that she has overcome the injuries which have held her back. She suffered a wrist injury last year and then a few weeks back she had a shoulder problem, due to which she pulled out of the trials for the Asian Games, which have since been postponed to 2023.
Asmitha, who is yet to win on the Hero WPGT, had a good day with six birdies and just one bogey on the ninth. Vidhatri had four birdies against three bogeys in her 71.
Jahanvi opened with a birdie and then had a good run of three more birdies around the turn from ninth to 11th, but she also dropped shots on third, fourth, 11th, 15th and 17th.
Neha Tripathi (71) was fifth while Durga Nittur (70) shared the sixth place with amateur Heena Kang (72). Seher Atwal (71) with her first under-par round of the week was eighth while Ridhima Dilawari (75) ended ninth.
Khushi Khanijau (73) and Siddhi Kapoor (78) were tied for 10th place.
The eighth leg of the Hero WPGT will be held at Bengaluru’s Karnataka Golf Association course from June 14 to 17.
