December 19, 2016: If you thought the story on Indian golf could not get any better in 2016, think again. Amandeep Drall and Neha Tripathi are lighting it up all over again, setting the stage for more good news in the next few days. The two women are among seven Indians this week in the Lalla Aicha Tour School event. The women are in Marrakech this week hunting for a card on the Ladies European Tour.
Amandeep, second on the Hero World Professional Golf Tour behind Vani Kapoor, is joint leader in the event after two of the five rounds had been played at the Savannah Golf Club in Morocco.
Aditi Ashok earned her card last year with victory in the same event in 2015. The 18 year old Indian enjoyed a stellar season on the LET circuit, claiming two victories for a second place finish on the Order of Merit. Aditi was also the Rookie of the season by a large margin.
Amandeep, the 24 year old rising star from Chandigarh, has been a strong presence on the WGAI HWPGT this season. She claimed four victories on the Indian tour to finish second for two consecutive seasons.
Amandeep shot seven birdies in the first round before adding four more on Sunday. Impressively enough, Amandeep kept her sheet clean in the second round to reach ten under through 36 holes.
“My iron play was great. I only missed three greens and rolled in a lot of putts, so it was consistent hitting – fairway to green,” said Drall.
“I had four birdies and I think the Amelkis course is more scoreable than Samanah, especially on the back nine, because you have a lot of birdie holes where you can hit shorter clubs into the green and stick them close and hole the putts. So far, so good. I have no ambitions other than to make the top 30 and keep playing good golf.”
Players who finish in the top 30 and ties will earn Ladies European Tour Membership in category 8 for 2017, while those that finish from positions 31st to 60th and ties after the cut will earn Membership in Category 9b.
Neha is lying in T12 after two rounds with Vani and Saaniya Sharma are in T25. Sharmila Nicollet and Gaurika Bishnoi are in T60, but a couple of good rounds should help them climb back into the race.
Anisha Padukone suffered a poor start and is 114th at 21 over through 36 holes.
