Hitaashee Bakshi, who lost in a playoff last week in the previous leg, will seek to make up in the 13th Leg of the Women’s Professional Golf Tour (WPGT), which gets underway at the Golden Greens Golf Club this week. A double winner this season, Hitaashee lost to Vani Kapoor at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
At the same time, Vidhatri, the three-time winner this season, is seeking a fourth title after being third last week.
This week Hitaashee will contend with three-time winner Vidhatri Urs, who finished third last week. The other top contenders will include Gaurika Bishnoi, Ridhima Dilawari, Amandeep Drall, Neha Tripathi, Sneha Singh, Shweta Mansingh, and Seher Atwal. The Rs.14-lakh event will see 41 players including five amateurs.
The event assumes a lot of importance as this is the last event ahead of the flagship event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open to be held next month. The HWIO is the only Ladies European Tour event in the region. The event will see an ongoing battle for the Hero Order of Merit honours between Hitaashee, the current leader, and Sneha Singh, the winner in 2023. Close behind them is Amandeep Drall, who seeks to re-discover the form that saw her finish runner-up at the HWIO in 2022.
Hitaashee and Sneha have won twice each this season, while Amandeep has won once. Only Vidhatri has three wins in the 12 legs held so far. Gaurika Bishnoi and Anvitha Narender are among the other winners from this season, who will be seen in action this week. Ridhima and Seher are just back from Spain, where they played at the La Sella Open and will be hoping to use that experience at the Golden Greens Golf Club.
Among the amateurs, the one to watch out for will be Anvvi Dahhiya, who was fourth in the 12th Leg last week. The other amateurs are Nandita Kumar, Janneya Dasanniee, Alysha Dutt and Prarthana