HERO Women’s Indian Open 2014

The Delhi Golf Club, Delhi, India will host nationalities from around the world from the 4th-6th December 2014, who will compete for the title of HERO Women’s Indian Open 2014 champion. The event is sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET), the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT) and the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI) and offers a purse of US$300,000.

Local hopeful Gauri Monga was an amateur last year and the pride of India when she secured a tie for 5th place. She finished ahead of her compatriots Neha Tripathi and stalwart Smriti Mehra. They will all have to play their best games this week if they are to take the spotlight from Vani Kapoor who recently took the Hero Order of Merit and Sharmila Nicollet, the youngest representative from India to retain her LET card. There are 16 golfers from India in the line-up who should be best suited to the conditions and with the field strengthening over the years, it’s a fantastic opportunity for Indian women players to develop in the game.

Carlotta Ciganda (Spa) comes into this event pumped. Coming off an exhausting 4 hole play-off against Lydia Ko a couple of weeks ago at the LPGA, CME Group Tour Championship, I’m guessing she will be running on nervous energy. Ciganda has only one top ten finish this year on the LPGA, she is ranked 52 in world rankings and is primed to show the Spanish flair that she displayed in the LPGA International Crown. Ciganda will feel confident coming into the last couple of events for the year and should stand up to the test this week.

Credit: Tristan Jones – LET

Also coming off consistently good form is Beth Allen (USA). Her game is peaking. She was 3rd at the Tenerife Open in September, 7th place at the Sanya Ladies Open and tied for 3rd at the Xiamen Open at the end of last month. These placings have rocketed her into tenth place on the ISPS Handa Order of Merit. Allen has navigated the various courses and stood up to the conditions and got on with the job. At this event last year, Allen finished her round with a sizzling 66 to pull in a tie for 5th place. With 2 events left on the Ladies European Tour (LET) calendar, Allen will be aiming high to cement her position well in the top ten on the Order of Merit.

Gwlayds Nocera (Fra) is always thereabouts. She will again stand up the test of this event and hope to better her 14th position and better her French compatriot, Val Derrey’s 2nd place of last year. Although Derrey is not in the filed this year, the French will be also be well represented by Alexandra Vilatte who tied for 3rd at the Xiamen Ladies Open.

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With players jockeying for position on the ISPS Handa Order of Merit, (OOM) top 10 finishes positions are still up for grabs. Finishing well this week at HERO Women’s Indian Open 2014 and Omega Dubai Ladies Open next week, could make a whole lot of difference to this week’s contenders Gwlayds Nocera (Fra) 4th, Nikki Campbell (Aust) 6th, Holly Clyburn (Eng) 9th, Beth Allen (USA) 10th and Florentyna Parker (Eng) 11th.

Credit: Tristan Jones -LET

Defending champion Thidapa Suwannapura (Thai) along side Saraporn Chamchoi, Pennapa Plusawath and Rungthiwa Pangjan (Thai) could spoil the party for the LET players battling it out. The Thailand players all finished well at this event last year. Suwannapura displayed control after a disappointing second round, she bounced back with a -4 final round to win by 3 strokes. She is a regular on the LPGA tour, posting her highest ranked place with 7th at the Kingsmill Championship in May and has followed up with good placings. Most recently she posted a tie for 11th at the Blue Bay LPGA in October. Suwannapura will challenge strongly and be one to watch.

This will be an exciting run to the end especially for the LET players striving for top ten OOM rankings. I will be watching Beth Allen closely and hoping the ball drops for her this week. Of course I hope Nikki Campbell (Aust) is in the last group on the final day.

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