22-year-old, Delhi golfer, Ridhima Dilawari carded three solid under-par rounds to clinch the title at the first event of the 2021 Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour (HWPGT) at the Prestige Golfshire in Bengaluru as the tour resumed after a break of only one month. Ridhima shot 71-67-71 (7-under 209), giving her a comfortable five-shot win over 17 year old Pranavi Urs of Mysuru who scored 73-71-70 (2-under 214).
Chikkarangappa S giving away the winning cheque to Ridhima Dilawari
Leading Pro from the PGTI, Chikkarangappa gave away the giant cheque to Ridhima in a welcome move to shine the limelight on champion players instead of administrators, as we usually see in other sports.
Ridhima, who’s previous best tournament score was 10 under 206 when she won at Jaypee Greens in 2019 by a margin of 10 strokes, commenting on her good form said, “I’ve been working on my short game and fitness over the break and made a few swing changes with my coach, Romit Bose.”
Ridhima, who turned professional in 2018, had finished second on the 2019 HWPGT Rankings despite winning five of the 12 events she entered.
The highlight of the final day was a Hole in One by 19-year-old Oviya Reddy of Chennai, who finished with a brilliant 69 to finish tied-18th.
The HWPGT Tour now heads to TNGF Cosmo in Chennai followed by one event each in Mumbai and Pune in February.
Top-10 finishers at the Leg 1 of Hero WPGT –
| Position | Player | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ridhima Dilawari | -7 (209) |
| 2 | Pranavi Urs | -2 (214) |
| 3 | Vani Kapoor | even-par (216) |
| 4 | Disha Kavery (A) | +5 (221) |
| 5 | Ananya Datar | +6 (222) |
| T-6 | Sneha Sharan (A) | +7 (223) |
| T-6 | Hitaashee Bakshi | +7 (223) |
| T-6 | Sehar Atwal | +7 (223) |
| T-9 | Amandeep Drall | +8 (224) |
| T-9 | Neha Tripathi | +8 (224) |