Two ace golfers, current European Order of Merit (OoM) leader Lee-Anne Pace and legendary Laura Davies, will try to assert their supremacy in the strong 122-player field of the $300,000 Hero Honda women's Indian Open, starting at the DLF Golf Country Club here on Thursday.
The challenge before Lee-Anne will be to maintain her position at the top of the Henderson Money List and winning the lucrative event will help her achieve this objective. “I would look to win this tournament as it will help me top the OoM and allow me to get into the qualifying school for the LPGA Tour by the yearend,” Pace said.
In cracking form
The 29-year-old South African is in cracking form and after winning back-to-back titles (Sanya Ladies Open and Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open) in China, she is high on confidence. Thus, she is not shying away from taking on Laura again. “I was a little bit behind Laura coming into Asia and it made a massive difference winning the first tournament. It was a good confidence booster,” she said.
The open DLF course is in good shape and can encourage the players to show their aggression in the 54-hole contest.
Experienced campaigner Helen Alfredsson rated the course very highly. “I am very impressed with the course. The greens are in great conditions and I was pleasantly surprised to see that,” she said. Two-time winner Pornanong Phatlum also liked the course. “It is better than last time and the climate is so good,” she said.
The Indian challenge will be led by the seasoned golfer Smriti Mehra. Besides, Sharmila Nicollet, Saaniya Sharma and Nalini Siwach form the young trio of home professionals.
Sharmila is leading the Hero Honda women's Professional Golf Tour of India and has won three titles this season. Nalini and Saaniya have won one each.
The field also includes some European and American professional golfers with Indian and sub-continental links. They include England's Kiran Matharu, Sahra Hassan of Wales, Canadian Salimah Mussani (who has fought a disease like lupus to build her career as a pro) and her compatriot Seema Sadekar.
