Report by Anand Datla
March 27, 2015: Indian golfers Vani Kapoor and Sharmila Nicollet missed the cut at the Lalla Meryem Golf Cup, being played in the beach resort of Agadir on the Moroccan coast. Both women put in improved performances in the second round, but a dismal 79 earlier on Thursday put paid to their hopes of making the weekend at the Ladies European Tour event. Vani made a terrific 68 in the second round, while Sharmila tried to steady her boat with a 72. Neither performance was enough to get them over the cut mark, set at 3-over to filter out the weekend field.
With only three holes left to play, Sharmila needed a couple of birdies to haul herself over the cut line. Unfortunately though Sharmila suffered a miserable meltdown that dropped her to 9-over 151 to finish 114th among 126 players.
Sharmila gave away four shots in that final stretch – a sequence of bogey, double bogey and bogey to finish her tournament will have left a bitter after taste for the elegant Indian golfer. “It was just a bad day and I still can’t believe what happened in the few holes,” said Sharmila. “I just need to be patient and work hard.”
Vani was the better golfer in the second round, essentially because she managed to retain her gains. She finished with a 3-under 68 to finish at 5-over 146, which was two worse than the market set to cut the field in two.
South African golfer Nicole Garcia stole the show on Friday with a brilliant 65 to jump into second ahead of Ursula Wikstrom and Mathilda Cappaliez who is flying the flag for amateurs.
Garcia was seven under through 15 holes before giving one back at the par-4 16th hole. The halfway leader is Gwladys Nocera who followed through the 68 in the first round with a 65 in the second to gain a one shot edge over Garcia.
Nocera was spotless through the day, making a rousing start with four straight birdies. The Frenchwoman added two more birdies at 16 and 17 to sign off in style and walk into the weekend with the lead in her bag.
The most impressive performance though came from a 15 year old amateur. Mathilda, the precocious French teenager made six birdies and two bogeys for a 67 to push herself into third with overnight leader Wikstrom.
