Gurgaon: Nalini Singh Siwach faltered on the back nine when a second straight title was in her sights at the sixth leg of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour at the challenging Golden Greens golf course on Thursday. Leading by one with seven holes to go, Nalini bogeyed three in a row from 12th to 14th and allowed veteran Smriti Mehra not only to catch up but also move ahead by two win her third title of the season.
Smriti, starting the day two shots ahead, returned a card of 75, the same as Nalini but she won with a total of 226, as compared to 228 by Nalini. Neha Tripathi (77) was a distant third with 234 the same as Saaniya Sharma (80). Vani Kapoor (77) ended fifth at 235 and Ankita Tiwana was sixth.
It was a see-saw battle between Smriti and Nalini in the final round with Smriti holding a two-shot lead. Playing together, both bogeyed the first hole, but Nalini closed the gap with a birdie on second. A bogey by Smriti on third meant the two were alevel.
The pair again bogeyed the fifth, but Smriti pulled ahead by one as she birdied the sixth and both birdied the ninth. On the back nine, Smriti leading by one fell back by one as she bogeyed ninth and tenth. But the clincher for the veteran golfer was the 12th, which she birdied while Nalini bogeyed for a two-shot swing.
Thereafter Nalini lapsed into further errors with bogeys on 13th and 14th to allow Smriti move clear by three. She even had the luxury of a bogey on 17th as Nalini failed to birdie any of the back nine leaving Smriti a winner by two shots.
This was the third title of the season for Smriti, while Nalini’s first win came last week when Smriti holding a commanding lead dropped a quadruple bogey in closing stages at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
The win also allowed Smriti to increase her lead at the top of the Order of Merit.
Interestingly, so difficult was the Golden Greens for the golfers that not a single one of them managed a sub-par round during the week.
By Indian Sports News Network
