Gurugram, Oct 23 (PTI) Six winners from the current season feature in the field of 114 players from 31 countries at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, which gets underway at DLF Golf and Country Club here on Thursday.
Only one among the dozen has bagged more than one title — Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland — and she could do it once again this week at the USD 400,000 Ladies European Tour event.
The goal for Tamburlini is a fourth title in 2024 and to seal the LET Order of Merit come Sunday.
At 69th position, she is the highest world ranked player in the elite field that also features 27 Indians, including five amateurs.
The entire Indian contingent, barring Diksha Dagar is knocking on the doors of a maiden LET win. A win would put them in a club that only has Aditi Ashok (5 LET wins) and Diksha Dagar (2 wins) as its members.
Incidentally, Aditi remains the only Indian winner at this premier women’s golf tournament, when she grabbed the title back in 2016.
Though defending champion Aline Krauter is not in the field, this year will see three past winners line up on Thursday that includes Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall (2011), Frenchwoman Camille Chevalier (2017), and Austria’s Christine Wolf (2019).
Much of the attention though will be on Tamburlini, who flew into Delhi after recording her third win of the season in Taiwan two weeks ago to follow earlier victories in Joburg Ladies Open and Open de France.
The 24-year-old is on the threshold of sealing this year’s honours and needs only to finish ahead of second placed Manon De Roey of Belgium to make sure of topping the rankings with two events still to go in Saudi Arabia and Spain.
Leading the Indian challenge will be two-time LET winner Diksha Dagar, who sits 22nd in the Order of Merit after a bright start to the season, and has underlined her determination to win her National Open.
Dagar is also a two-time Olympian having played at the Tokyo and Paris Summer Games.
The 24-year-old Dagar was a sole third-place finisher last year and in keen to go better than that this time. She will tee off for the first two days alongside Tamburlini and De Roey while LPGA star Maria Fassi of Mexico starts out with past winners Wolf and Chevalier.
Also hoping to make a mark on home soil during her notable LET debut season will be Pranavi Urs, while Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor and domestic Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour leader Hitaashee Bakshi make a trio of players who have a solid record at their home course.
Amandeep Drall, who was joint second two years ago, will be hoping to find some elusive form at a venue she has dominated in the past. PTI BS TAP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.