Amandeep gearing up for the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour

Defending champion Vani Kapoor will look to capitalise on her fine form, while Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall will hope to bag her maiden title of the season in the 12th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour to be played at Prestige Golfshire in Bangalore from July 22 to 24.

Order of merit leader Vani Kapoor, with total earnings of Rs 11.80 lakh, has already posted four wins besides finishing runner-up four times in the season. In the last event held at Karnataka Golf Association (KGA), Vani finished as runnerup. The Delhi golfer has won twice here in 2012 and 2014 and will be keen to add another title and extend her lead at the top of the leaderboard.

But Vani is will face a strong challenge from Panchkula’s rookie golfer Amandeep Drall, who is second in the order of merit with total earnings of Rs 7.64 lakh.

The Panchkula golfer, who will be making her debut appearance here, is yet to win a professional title and has finished runner-up on three occasions in 11 appearances this season. Amandeep, who turned professional last year, will be eager to break the jinx and reduce the gap on Vani in the money list. Veteran Smriti Mehra, who is third in the merit list, has opted out of this event.

Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet, who returned to the tour last week after a gap of three events, will also start as one of the strong contenders.

The local sensation finished third at the KGA and is yet to win a title this year. She will look to end her title drought here.

Other golfers in the fray will be Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal. Neha is currently sitting at fourth position in the money list with total earnings of Rs 7.10 lakh, while trailing her is Gursimar with total earnings of Rs 5.51 lakh.

Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma, who finished tied seventh in the last event, is also expected to mount a challenge for the title. She is placed eighth in the order of merit with total earnings of Rs 4.40 lakh. Mehar Atwal, Gauri Monga and Afshan Fatima will be making their maiden appearances at this venue. Pune’s Shweta Galande, who lost in the play-off against Vani last year, will also be looking to make amends and win her first title since 2013. The Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour comprises a total of 19 legs spanning across India.