July 4, 2017: Sharmila Nicollet will be hoping to start the second half of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2017 with a win, that has eluded her so far this year. The 26-year-old swimmer-turned-golfer, Sharmila is on a comeback from a series of injuries that have affected her results over the last 12-18 months.
Now refreshed and fit, she will be among those teeing off at the Rs. 7 lakh seventh leg of the Hero WPGT. Sharmila has been paired for the first round with Mehar Atwal and Sonam Chugh.
Interestingly, barring Gaurika Bishnoi, who won the third leg of the Tour, none of the others in the field have tasted victory so far this season. The reason being the Top-3, Amandeep Drall (2 wins), Vani Kapoor (2 wins) and Neha Tripathi (1 win) are away competing at the Ladies European Thailand Championships this week.
Apart from Sharmila and Gaurika, the other top contenders would include the experienced, Smriti Mehra, also waiting for her first win this season, as also Gursimar Badwal, Saaniya Sharma, Mehar Atwal, and Sonam Chugh.
While Gaurika has one win and three other Top-3 finishes, Smriti Mehra and Saaniya Sharma have one runner-up finish each besides another third place each. So, both will hoping to pick up their first winner’s cheque.
Gaurika Bishnoi is currently second on the Order of Merit and this week would give her a chance to narrow the gap between her and the leader, Amandeep Drall.
The Women’s Golf Association of India has also given five spots to amateurs this week.
| Hero WPGT Order of Merit 2017 | ||||
| POS | PLAYER | Total Winning | Played | Won |
| 1 | Amandeep Drall | 588000 | 5 | 2 |
| 2 | Gaurika Bishnoi | 508900 | 6 | 1 |
| 3 | Vani Kapoor | 342000 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Saaniya Sharma | 330200 | 6 | – |
| 5 | Neha Tripathi | 316200 | 4 | 1 |
| 6 | Smriti Mehra | 303800 | 5 | – |
| 7 | Sharmila Nicollet | 285000 | 5 | – |
| 8 | Mehar Atwal | 254700 | 6 | – |
| 9 | Gursimar Badwal | 232400 | 6 | – |
| 10 | Siddhi Kapoor | 187400 | 6 | – |
Draw for Leg 7
| TIME | PLAYER-1 | PLAYER-2 | PLAYER-3 | |
| 1 | 8:30 AM | Tanirika Singh (A) | Gursimar Badwal | Smriti Mehra |
| 2 | 8:40 AM | Anisha Padukone | Shweta Mansingh (A) | Suchitra Ramesh |
| 3 | 8:50 AM | Sharmila Nicollet | Mehar Atwal | Sonam Chugh |
| 4 | 9:00 AM | Ankita Kedlaya (A) | Siddhi Kapoor | Saaniya Sharma |
| 5 | 9:10 AM | Afshan Fatima | Tvesa Malik | Trisha Sunil |
| 6 | 9:20 AM | Ayesha Kapur | Gaurika Bishnoi | Pranavi Urs (A) |
| 7 | 9:30 AM | Millie Saroha | Komal Chaudhary | Rhea P Saravanan (A) |
WGAI Tour Release
