Golf rewards patience, and we may have found the candidate who has persevered long enough for a slice of history at the US$500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open.
Related: Chiara Tamburlini stays top at HWIO; Illness fails to deter Pranavi Urs
Vani Kapoor’s best years await her on the golf course, but her appearances at the Hero Women’s Indian Open have already made it a stat worthy enough to be chased in the Indian context.
Vani is India’s 54-hole leader at the DLF Golf and Country Club, and as she awaits that magical moment on the Ladies European Tour (LET) on Sunday, she has proved that the journey to this point has been spent well by getting better all the time.
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As we know, golf can be a fickle sport, and reputations can be built or otherwise over 18 holes. For now, Vani will soak in the moment that the onus to win the national open, since Aditi Ashok pulled it off a decade ago, is on her.
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Like through the week, the tightly-packed leaderboard will leave little room for error, though. At 5-under 211 (73, 69, 69), the lead over defending champion Shannon Tan of Singapore at 4-under 212 (68, 77, 67) and Thailand’s three-time winner, Pornanong Phatlum, 212 (72, 71, 69) is slender, and Vani is thankful that she is surrounded by family and friends to help her stay grounded.
“They will keep reminding me that 18 holes are left, and there is work to done, and that will help,” said Vani as she attempts to breach a summit never scaled.
Indians stand out
Saturday turned out to be a profitable day for the Indian brigade. Battling illness and fatigue, Pranavi Urs, overnight T-2, slipped, but only just, and finished in a tie for fourth with Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher.
It was a show of resilience, and had exhaustion not got the better of her on the back nine, Pranavi could have finished under-par for the third day running.
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With the body virtually not responding to the mind, errors crept in and the dropped shots set her back on the final stretch.
“The body is still recovering, and I know it is going to be a grind out there again tomorrow,” said Pranavi.
Tied with Magdalena (68, 72, 73) at 213, Pranavi (70, 70, 73) will regroup and mount a fresh challenge in what will be a second shot at a title shortly after the Asian Games gold in Japan.
Building on the past
Golf isn’t a sport that encourages reflection on the day gone by, but Vani made an exception by reminding herself of the eagle-birdie stretch on Friday. She never let go of the impetus after that, and Saturday’s Moving Day bloomed into one of her best rounds on her home course.
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The putter fluent, and the emotions in check, Vani is ready for D-Day. “I’m pretty stable and didn’t get too excited. It is something I was careful of. That’s the plan with one more day to go,” she said.
Proficiency at its peak
Since her ascent as a top name on the LET the past few seasons, Shannon hasn’t been accustomed to shooting a 77, and overshooting the runway in Gurugram on Friday stirred the 2025 order of merit champion.
Commencing in a frenzy, Shannon’s five birdies in six holes on the front nine on Saturday seemed as if she wasn’t competing on the Tour’s toughest golf course.
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It was an exhibition of attacking golf, seldom seen in these parts, but the defending champion put it softly as, “When you’re playing well on this course, you can actually go quite low.”
Given the start, Shannon could have wrested the lead again, but the strained wrist, brought about by overuse, prevented her from cutting loose on the back nine as she kept shielding the taped area.
Reliving the old times
Pornanong’s three wins at the Hero Women’s Indian Open happened when the Gary Player was yet to come into existence, but the LPGA star from Thailand has worked her way to the top as if she is determined to replicate the success she found outside it.
Focus has been the key, and that’s helped her offset the novelty. “I try to focus on every shot because it’s a really tough course, and I think I did pretty good over the last three rounds,” she said.
Top Scores:
- 1: Vani Kapoor (IND): 73-69-69 (-5)
- 2: Shannon Tan (SIN): 68-77-67; Pornanong Phatlum (THA): 72-71-69 (-4)
- 4: Magdalena Simmermacher (ARG): 68-72-73; Pranavi Urs (IND): 70-70-73 (-3)
- 6: Camille Chevalier (FRA): 71-70-73; Sara Kouskova (CZE): 69-72-73 (-2)
- 8: Tvesa Malik (IND): 71-73-71 (-1)
- 9: Ursula Wikstrom (FIN): 71-72-73 (E)
- 10: Patricia Isabel Schmidt (GER): 75-73-69; Liz Young (ENG): 75-71-71; Ariane Klotz (FRA): 72-70-75; Chiara Tamburlini (SUI): 67-71-79 (+1)
