Tvesa Malik and Vani Kapoor will love playing on home turf as it were as the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour returns to the Gary Player layout for the fifth leg of the year. Vani, who at times has described the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurugram as her second home, and Tvesa, who lives nearby, will also be hoping to strike it rich by winning for the first time in 2021.
While Tvesa, who barely made it to the Top-10 in the last event, will hope to win her first domestic title since 2019, Vani is hoping to go one better than she did in the fourth leg, which was won by Seher Atwal. Tvesa spent a good portion of 2020 playing in Europe on the Ladies European Tour, where she has retained her playing rights. At that time the Indian Tour was shut down due to the pandemic.
Now as Tvesa prepares for LET in 2021, she will be hoping for a few good results at the venue, which also hosts the annual Hero Women’s Indian Open, the biggest women’s golf event in India.
The four legs of the Hero WPGT in 2021 have been won by different players, one of them an amateur, Avani Prashanth, and no player has finished in the Top-2 more than twice.
Two of the four winners of 2021, Pranavi Urs, who is recovering from an injury sustained last month, and Seher Atwal, winner of the fourth leg, are not teeing up this week.
Teenaged Hitaashee Bakshi, who broke through with a maiden pro win towards the end of 2020, has twice finished runner-up in 2021. She was second behind Pranavi Urs in the second leg, and was Tied-second with Vani in the fourth leg. Having won once earlier in Gurugram, but at the Classic Golf & Country Club, she will hope to get back to winning ways in the city.
Amandeep Drall, leader of the combined Hero Order of Merit for 2020 and 2021, began with some modest results but picked up with a runner-up finish in the third leg. She could well be on the winner’s podium this week.
Also looking for a reversal in fortunes will be Diksha Dagar, who has been going through a lean patch.
Tee times for the first round of the fifth leg of the Hero WPGT at DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurugram:
8:00 AM : Anisha Agarwalla; Tvesa Malik; Saaniya Sharma;
8:10 AM : Geetika Ahuja; Ishvari Prasanna; Disha Kavery;
8:20 AM : Rhea Jha; Avani Prashanth (A); Trimann Saluja;
8:30 AM : Ananya Datar; Rishika Muralidhar (A); Nishna Patel (A);
8:45 AM : Gursimar Badwal; Amandeep Drall; Diksha Dagar;
8:55 AM : Jahanvi Bakshi; Khushi Khanijau; Ridhima Dilawari;
9:05 AM : Gauri Karhade; Jyotsana Singh; Astha Madan;
9:15 AM : Vani Kapoor; Hunar Mittal (A); Neha Tripathi;
9:30 AM : Shweta Mansingh; Oviya Reddi; Riya Yadav (A);
9:40 AM : Hitaashee Bakshi; Gaurika Bishnoi; Lakhmehar Pardesi;
9:50 AM : Durga Nittur; Shagun Narain; Vidhatri Urs (A);
