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Pune, February 13
Gursimar Badwal will once again start as favourite when the fourth leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour begins at the Oxford Golf Resort here tomorrow.
Gursimar, who pulled away on the back nine to win the previous leg here, will once again face stiff competition from Neha Tripathi, Tvesa Malik, Ayesha Kapur and Saaniya Sharma, who comprised the top-5 last week.
Gursimar's hallmark has been consistency and that is what carried her through in the third leg.
She will now be hoping to strike gold in back-to-back events here, like she did in Bengaluru last year.
In the 2017 season, Gursimar won two times and finished in the top-5 on numerous other occasions.
The Kapurthala golfer, who turns 25 on February 26, is looking at another solid season after having finished fourth in the Hero Order of Merit last year. Gursimar holds the lead in this year's Money List with earnings of Rs 2,74,000 while Neha is right behind her at Rs 2,46,000. Tvesa (Rs 2,32,000) and Saaniya Sharma (Rs 2,02,000) are the next in the pecking order.
Neha, one of the two golfers to win three or more titles in 2017, is also hoping to open her account at the pristine Oxford Golf Resort, after coming close at the Poona Club Golf Course last week.
Some of other leading golfers like the Hero WPGT first leg winner Vani Kapoor, Amandeep Drall, Gaurika Bishnoi and the second leg winner Sharmila Nicollet will miss out this week. Vani and Amandeep are playing the Australian Open qualifiers. The opening day's action will take off with Millie Saroha and Ayesha Kapur in the opening two-ball. Mehar Atwal, Tavleen Batra and Neha will be in the second group, to be followed by Trisha Sunil, Tvesa and Saaniya.
The fourth group will feature Siddhi Kapoor, Khushi Khanijau and Suchitra Ramesh.
The fifth group will see last week’s winner Gursimar tee off in the company of Smriti Mehra and Anisha Padukone, while Afshan Fatima, Sonam Chugh and Hita Prakash will be in the last group. —PTI
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