Neha eyes encore at Tollygunge

Buoyed by her first victory in more than a year, Neha Tripathi will start as firm favourite in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour that commences at the picturesque Tollygunge Golf Club in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The Rs 6 lakh event will see 17 professionals and amateur Tvesa Malik vying for top honours on the par 70 golf course.

Neha registered a three-shot victory over Shweta Galande last week and will be eager to continue her winning run. She is currently sixth in the Hero Order of Merit and will be keen on making a move up the list.

Neha, however, will find Smriti Mehra, Kiran Matharu and Sharmila Nicollet standing in her way. Overseas player Kiran Matharu had a less than impressive outing in the last event and will want to make amends. Currently second in the merit list, Kiran has made three appearances with two runner-up finishes to her name.

Local pro Smriti is still searching for her first win this season and has been far from her best. However, she has the experience to turn things around quickly and will be a force to reckon with in the fourth event of the year. She is currently seventh in the money list.

Hero Motocorp sponsored Bengaluru golfer Sharmila Nicollet played in her first event last week, finishing fifth at the RCGC. She will look to better her performance and push hard for a maiden win this season.

Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma and Galande of Pune are other players to watch out for this week. Shweta is currently ninth, while Saaniya sits in third place.

Both had strong finishes last week with second and third positions respectively, and will try to put an end to their barren run this season.

Others in fray are Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal, Jaipur’s Pallavi Jain and the Delhi duo of Ankita Tiwana and Mehar Atwal.