In–form Diksha Dagar,  will headline the home challenge at the US$ 400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open slated to be played at the DLF Golf and Country Club here from 19 to 22 October.

Diksha has had the finest season of her career. She achieved her second LET win at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open, where Thai Trichat was second. She picked up pace after a slow start to the 2023 season and has been very consistent after that. She had an amazing five event run from the Belgian Ladies and was topped by a win at the Czech Ladies Open. She finished in Top-8 in four of them.

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While Diksha is almost a certain to make the grade for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, she is also eyeing the Race to Costa Del Sol, which has never been won by an Indian before.

Among other home golfers in focus will be last year’s runner-up Amandeep Drall along with Vani Kapoor, Tvesa Malik and Neha Tripathi. One big win can bring a big change in their fortunes on the Order of Merit.

The field of 120 showcases four of the top five in the current LET’s Order of Merit and seven winners from what has been a very strong and competitive 2023 season. The four of the top-five stars from the LET’s Order of Merit include Johanna Gustavsson (Swe), Ana Pelaez Trivino (Esp), India’s own Diksha and Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab.

The seven winners from the ongoing 2023 schedule include Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson (Helsingborg Open), Diksha Dagar (Tipsport Czech Ladies Open), Spain’s Carmen Alonso (Ladies Open by Pickala Resort), Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz (La Sella Open), Denmark’s Smilla Tarning Soenderby (KPMG Women’s Irish Open) and Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab (Big Green Egg Open). They will be joined by Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson, who won the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, and has now vaulted to second place on the OOM.

Johanna who is having a breakout season, leads the race in the chase to hunt down the leader, France’s Celine Boutier. Boutier’s twin wins at one of the majors, Evian Championship, and the Women’s Scottish Open in successive weeks put her in the top spot.

Johanna (1551.07) is just about 241 points behind Celine (1792.88). Gustavsson is just under 65 points ahead of Spaniard Ana Pelaez Trivino (1487.20) and close behind are home star Diksha Dagar (1484.61) and Thai sensation Trichat Cheenglab (1448.22). Ana, Diksha and Trichat are separated by less than 39 points, so there is a lot to play for them.