Vani Kapoor, Aditi Ashok driving women’s golf forward

Vani Kapoor and Aditi Ashok have been pushing the boundaries of golf further with their performances

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Vani Kapoor at Eagleton

Anand Datla

June 21, 2016: As the women make the short hop-over from Eagleton Resort to Clover Greens today for the ninth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour, there are clear signs of great progress for women’s golf in India. Vani Kapoor through her commanding sixteen shot victory last week and Aditi Ashok’s assured golf on the Ladies European Tour underline the rising standards of the game in India.

Consider this – there were a grand total of 21 under par scores in 2012, with Smriti Mehra leading the way with seven scores under par.

In stark contrast, we have already witnessed 27 scores better than par, midway through the 2016 season. Vani alone has accounted for eight of those instances.

Vani has been riding her form to victories, claiming four titles in just five starts this season. Interestingly though, the Hero Order of Merit is still a keenly contested race, with Neha Tripathi and Gursimar Badwal tapping on Vani’s heels within striking distance.

In fact four of the eight events this season have been won with an under par score. Even last year, seven of the eighteen events on the calendar with under par scores.

Kiran Matharu’s 17-under par winning score at the Classic Golf & Country Club remains the most dominant performance ever witnessed in Indian golf.

That and Vani’s 10 under score at Eagleton remain the only double digit scores under par in India’s professional golf history. Just an example for contrast – Vani won the first leg of the 2014 season with a score of 13-over.

Clearly the women are getting better and credit is due to the WGAI for operating a consistent calendar of events and unstinting support of sponsors such as Hero and Yes Bank which are investing money into the game.

As they tee off at Clover today, expectations are high for another competitive week of golf among the women.

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