The golfing gods are smiling, and they could be generous to Pranavi Urs again this week at the US$ 500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open (HWIO).
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The shiny piece of metal has not only given solid direction to the young professional golfer’s career; the achievement has the potential to change the face of women’s golf in the country.
The pride of donning the national colours in Aichi-Nagoya will stay a lifetime, but teeing off for Hero Women’s Indian Open – her national open, scheduled from October 22-25 in Gurugram, is no less important.
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And why not. Pranavi is happy to be back at the DLF Golf and Country Club, which is “home turf”, and the familiarity could well turn it her way come Sunday. If she could choose an opponent to duel, it would be HWIO defending champion Shannon Tan of Singapore.
The two bonded over the intense competition in Japan, and but for Shannon, Pranavi would not have known when she rolled in the winning putt.
That was then, and Pranavi is confident the slip will not be repeated. The confidence of mounting the podium as the Asian Games champion came out in full force as she said, “I hope Shannon does not have to inform me (of the win) on the 18th green.”
If there was an opportunity to go three steps better from the fourth finish at the HWIO last year, the time is now, and Pranavi is acutely aware of the chance to translate her good form into her maiden win on the LET.
Fulfilling a dream
While Pranavi went about scripting a piece of golden nugget, Diksha Dagar lived a “dream” in Japan by securing the team silver with Pranavi Urs and Aditi Ashok.
Diksha was hurting, and it is in moments like the one the trio navigated in the Asian Games, that the champion mentality comes to the fore.
Diksha’s strong start to the 2026 LET season got negated by a knee injury, and the inability to practice to the extent she would have liked got reflected in the results in the latter half of the LET season.
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She could have resigned to the situation, but the determination to make the most of the week in Japan saw fortitude outdo adversity.
“Winning a team medal had been a dream, so it felt like ticking an important box. I wanted to win one (medal) at the last Asian Games as well as I was playing good golf then, but that is how the game goes,” said the two-time LET champion.
Her playing rights on the LET are secure for 2027, but the fighter in Diksha is not ready to relent, and will not forego the ‘home’ chance to resurrect her fortune on Tour.
If memories are a prop, Diksha has a solid one, and the sole third finish in the HWIO in 2023 will go a long way in buttressing her confidence.
Learning never stops
Hitaashee Bakshi would have hoped that the high of finishing the best Indian at third at the HWIO last year would translate into bigger results on the LET.
Golf can be a strange sport, and aware of its fickle nature, Hitaashee took the ensuing knocks on the LET as part of learning. The lessons have shown up, albeit slowly, but she is willing to persevere.
Back to where she became the flavour of the Sunday crowd here last year, Hitaashee is a lot more certain this time.
“I am trying to understand the course a little better every day and the plan is to play one shot at a time and see where that takes me,” she said.
