December 21, 2016: On another outstanding night for Indian golf, Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor and Neha Tripathi sealed a spot on the Ladies European Tour for the 2017 season. The troika showed enormous belief and commitment this week to secure category 08 – full status on the coveted tour. Sharmila Nicollet and Saaniya Sharma placed outside the top 30, but it was still enough to gain provisional status under category 09b. Madelene Sagstrom shot 68 to score a two shot victory.
WHAT HAPPENED
The final round brought with it tremendous pressure – especially for the three women battling for spots inside the top 30. The stress of playing with the knowledge of a dream turning real was best exemplified by the fact that Vani Kapoor settled on a four over 76 in the fifth round.
Amandeep Drall shot a bogey at the par-4 second hole, but recovered immediately with back to back birdies at the fourth and fifth holes. Amandeep made the turn in an even 36 strokes though, as a second bogey at the sixth hole offset her effort at the fifth.
Amandeep, who was in a share of the lead at the end of the second round, came home in style. She shot birdies at the thirteenth and fourteenth hole to secure herself a tie for seventh place. Amandeep shot scores of 66-68-71-72-70 for a 13 under total of 347.
Vani Kapoor started the week with a 69 and finished with a 76. She made scores of 74-69-67 in the middle rounds to complete her duties at 5-under 355, good enough for T18.
Neha Tripathi finished the week in T25, riding a topsy turvy path to a 3-under total of 357. She made scores of 72-69-69-76-71.
Sharmila Nicollet produced her best effort of the week in the third round, when she made 70. She had scores of 75-72 on one side and 72-73 on the other side for a two over total of 362. She finished the week in T42.
Saaniya Sharma was playing into a mirror – scoring 70-73 in the first two rounds before following them with scores of 73-70 in the next two rounds. She finished the week with a battling 77 to lose 14 spots and finish in T47.
While Anisha Padukone and Gaurika Bishnoi fought their guts out only to miss out on the final round. But the young duo will have treasured the learnings from the tournament and will certainly come back stronger when they return to the event in the near future.
