Laura Davies wins the Hero Honda Indian Women’s Open
With four ladies coming in first place, it was the English veteran Laura Davies who won the play-off and hence claimed the title at the Hero Honda Indian Women’s Open. The competition was tough and kept the crowd in New Delhi, India on the edge of their
seats. The 65 Laura posted relaxed the embarrassment the player had to face on misplacing her golf bags. Obviously after a bad second round, Davies had the fear of missing the cut, and the disappointment of not being like her role model.
Davies said that in the twenty five years she has been in the LPGA, she always wanted to be like Seve Ballesteros. Wanting to be as good as him, the seasoned golfer was scared that her over-par round would take her out of the fight for the title. The birdie
and the eagle Davies posted in the final two holes got her in contention for the four-way playoff with Louise Friberg, Nontaya Sriswang, and Tandi Cuningham. Till the final day, Davies record of playoffs was at 2-12, but the wise woman made sure she would
set up a new record.
Laura’s role model, Ballesteros has won five majors and is now recovering from a surgery for a brain tumour. Seve was supposed to play at this year’s Open Championship in St. Andrews, but due to medical advice he didn’t take part.
Knowing that she doesn’t do well in play-offs, Laura decided to not be so tense about the situation. For her even a second place finish wasn’t bad so she just played as well as she could. Looking at how the game went, her ‘carefree’ attitude worked and paved
the path towards victory.
All four players were tied at three under 213 before they went into the playoff. All the players had a birdie, but it was Davies who had an eagle. Her last round 70 made up for the embarrassing 78 she carded in the second round. "I love the 18th. It gave
me life, it gave me money and it gave me the title. I'll remember this hole for a long, long time. It was my third win in 15 playoffs," said Davies, who is now about 30,000 Euros short of Pace's earning on the Money List.
The $45,000 cheque that Davies received put her in close contention with Lee-Ann Pace for the Henderson Money List. The final would be decided at the season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Master. Currently, Davies is 30,000 Euros short of Pace’s earnings.
"This means I have to win in Dubai to surpass Lee-Anne's earnings," said Davies
France’s Cassandra Kirkland finished in fifth position with a total of 214. She posted a final round one over par 73. The defending champion, Pornanong Phatlum, of Thailand tied for sixth place with Italian Veronica Zorzi.
The Indian players didn’t really work wonders on their home ground. Out of the many Indian ladies participating, the best was Sharmila Nicollet who posted an amazing 69 in the final round. Nicollet moved from a tie for 54th place to a tie for
23rd position. Sharmila did a good job as she carded five birdies, two on the front nine and three on the back. She also made a few mistakes as she posted two bogeys. She said this was her best finish as a professional and she is content from it.
Due to this victory, Davies still has hopes of winning what would be her eighth order of Merit. Feeling confident after her trip to India, Davies is definitely looking forward to playing in Dubai. Her next goal is the Euros 500,000 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters.
The final tournament of the Ladies European Tour will take place from December 8th to 11th at the Emirates Golf Club.
Tags: