Bengaluru: The past few weeks haven’t yielded favorable results for the talented Vani Kapoor. The Delhi golfer who stamped her authority on the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2014 suddenly saw a dip in her game, costing her the title in the last two tournaments. The current Hero Order of merit leader, who took the winners cheque at KGA by virtue of being the top professional, would however like to end her title drought in the INR 5,00,000 ninth leg of the HWPGT due to commence on the 16th of July 2014 at the beautiful Eagleton Golf Resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

With total earnings of INR 8,60,000 from eight starts Vani is comfortably sitting atop the money list and is the firm favorite for the ninth leg in the absence of strong competition from local sensation and Sharmila Nicollet and veteran golfer Smriti Mehra.

The field for the ninth leg will see 10 professional and 4 amateur golfers fighting it out for the title. Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi, Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma, Pune’s Shweta Galande and Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana are the other professionals who will be the top contenders for the winner’s cheque on Friday, 18th July 2014.

Amongst the amateurs, Raksha Phadke, who won her maiden title at KGA last week playing in a professional event, is giving the ninth leg a miss. The other amateurs who could spring a surprise would be local girl Anisha Padukone, and Delhi’s Mehar Atwal and Millie Saroha.

Sharmila Nicolett will give Leg 9 a miss as she is scheduled to play in the Ladies German Open from 17th – 20th July in Wörthsee, Germany.