Golf: Vani Kapoor ends two-year title drought at Hero WPGT, Anirban Lahiri falters in Orlando

Vani Kapoor on Friday ended a two-year long title drought as she won the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in Greater Noida.

Kapoor overcame a triple bogey on the fifth to win the tournament even as Pranavi Urs once again displayed finishing jitters to end second.

Kapoor, starting the final day in shared lead with Amandeep Drall (79) with a lead of two shots, carded a third round of three-over 75 to finish at one-over 217. Pranavi (73), who was four behind the co-leaders, turned in even par and caught up with Kapoor, who was four-over for the front nine.

On the back nine, Kapoor birdied 11th, while Pranavi started stumbling with a bogey on 12th. A birdie from Pranavi, who was playing in the second to last group, was followed by a bogey from Vani, which meant they were once again level.

Then came the crucial errors from Pranavi who had back-to-back bogeys on 15th and 16th. Pranavi did manage a birdie on Par-4 17th, but so did Vani a little later and stayed two shots clear for a long-awaited win.

Overall, Vani had two birdies, two bogeys and a triple bogey, while Pranavi had three birdies and four bogeys. Though this is Vani’s first win in over two years, she played only four more events after the early win in 2018 and played only three events in 2019, as she was busy with international tours.

As for Pranavi, even though she must be disappointed with a second runner-up finish this year, she has been having a good season with two wins and two runner-up finishes in five events held so far. She played the first two events as an amateur, winning once and finishing second once.

Amandeep Drall started with a birdie to take sole lead but she started crumbling from the fourth hole onwards. She bogeyed fourth and fifth, and then seventh and eighth. On the ninth she had a double bogey for a front nine of five-over 41. She never recovered.

A birdie on 11th was the last bright spot for her, as she bogeyed 13th and then had further bogeys on 17th and 18th as she had seven bogeys and a double against just two birdies.

Gaurika Bishnoi carded 78. She had patches of good and bad play. She dropped bogeys on third and fourth and a double on fifth. She birdied three times in a row from 10th and then bogeyed 13th and closed with three bogeys on 15th, 16th and 17th and was fourth.

Lahiri starts with 74

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri had just one birdie and three bogeys in a card of two-over 74, which left him in a precarious tied-80th place after the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.

Lahiri’s sole birdie came on fourth and it was flanked by a bogey on either side and he ended the day with a bogey. He had a three-putt bogey on fifth. Lahiri hit eighth of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation but missed a few birdie chances that cost him. Meanwhile Matt Every leads the field at 7-under while Rory McIlroy is in second at 6 under.

McIlroy, who has finished in Top 10 in every tournament since September, shot a 6-under 66, while Every’s only two PGA Tour victories in 237 starts have been back-to-back at Bay Hill. He was one better than McIlroy at 65. Interestingly, Every shot 85 in the last round at The Honda Classic last week. McIlroy had his sixth consecutive opening round of 68 or lower.

Scottie Scheffler shot a bogey-free 67 and joined Talor Gooch two shots behind. Scheffler was the player of the year on the Korn Ferry Tour. Christian Bezuidenhout was in the group at 68 along with Keith Mitchell and Graeme McDowell. Phil Mickelson in the afternoon and Adam Scott in the morning 77 each as only 18 players from the 120 field broke 70.