Vani Kapoor wins the 17th leg from Gursimar Badwal

November 20, 2015: Vani Kapoor shot 77 in the third and final round of the 17th leg in Noida to take the fifth title this season. It was a second straight 77 from Vani but that was enough to edge past Gursimar Badwal, who shot 78.

The Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor, who was at the top of the leaderboard throughout the tournament, was not in the best of form on the final day. This effort was however, still good enough for Vani to secure her fifth title of the year. The Delhi professional ended with a total score of 226 after 54 holes, to give her victory by a slender margin of one stroke over Gursimar Badwal.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal, who started the day in tied first position, came up with an effort of 6 over 78 to finish runners-up at the Noida Golf Course. She played a birdie-less front nine with two bogies on the 4th and 8th holes, along with a double on the 3rd. She began her back nine with a birdie on the 10th, but three more bogies on the 12th, 13th and 18th holes quashed all chances of her winning her maiden title, and she had to be content with another second place finish.

Vani’s overall score was three shots better than third placed Gauri Monga (77) and Smriti Mehra (80) who were both on 229.

Delhi golfer Vani bled heavily midway through her final round – giving away 7 shots in a nine hole stretch from the 6th. In all she made eight bogeys and three birdies in her final round effort.

Badwal took 40 shots for her first nine holes before making the first birdie of her round at the 10th hole. She then added three more bogeys including one at the 18th hole to sign for second place.

Smriti took a double bogey at the par-4 fourth hole and six other bogeys to account for her score of 80. Gauri shot five bogeys and a double at the third, besides two birdies in her 77.

Neha Tripathi closed out in fifth position making 80 in the final round for an overall score of 16-over 232.

Kiran Matharu was the best golfer on Friday – shooting a brilliant 73 that included four birdies. The rookie golfer finished in sixth place.

Ankita Tiwana finished just one behind Matharu scoring a respectable 74 in the final round. Her overall score was 19-over 235.

Amandeep Drall finished in eighth place despite shooting the worst round of the day. Drall and Ayesha Kapur the last of the golfers both shot 84.

Amateur Tavleen Batra tied for ninth with Saaniya Sharma. Batra shot 81 while Sharma made 75 for an overall score of 240.