Sirikit Cup: Avani grabs title, India record best-ever second-place finish

Avani Prashanth on Friday became the first Indian golfer to win the Queen Sirikit Cup a prestigious tournament for amateurs and helped the Indian team finish second for its bestever show in the competitions 43yearoldhistoryWith a total of 16under Avani finished a record 10strokes ahead of Fiona Xu of New Zealand 68737269 who was sixunder for the weekLocal Filipino star Rianne Mikhaela Malixi 68736874 and Koreas Hyunjo Yoo 70717171 were tied third at 5under totalThe lanky 16yearold from Bengaluru who cracked the top100 recently had a share of the lead from the very first day at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country ClubAlso Read Veteran Jyoti Randhawa in top10 at Qatar golf 4 Indians card even parAvani who had rounds of 686670 on the first three days played a brilliant back nine with four birdies in last eight holes including the closing 18thIts been a longawaited win and Im excited for what the rest of the year holds Its a little frustrating that I wont be going to Augusta this year but Ill hope to make it there in 2024 Im just happy to get this win and I hope I can carry this form into the WAAP Avani ranked 93rd on the World amateur golf rankings saidRated highly in the AsiaPacific region Avani helped India give the formidable Korean a run for their money before settling for the second placeEven as Avani produced the finest performance of her young career her teammate Vidhatri Urs 74777274 finished tied19th while Nishna Patel 80787475 ended in tied30th placeIn the team competition Korean teen stars Kim Minsol Yoo Hyunjo and Seo Kyorim once again showed their countrys domination at the tournamentOn a dramatic final day the Korean trio held firm to beat back a strong challenge from an Avaniinspired Indian teamKorea had a 72hole team aggregate of 12under 564 That was five strokes clear of India The two best scores of each team were counted for their days scoresAt the start of the day Korea quickly extended their overnight lead from two shots to four But by the eighth hole India had reduced the deficit to just one with Japan and Indonesia threatening to turn it into a fourhorse raceIndias hopes of a maiden Queen Sirikit Cup title faded when Nishna Patel found water with her approach and doublebogeyed the ninth and Vidhatri Urs took six at the parfour 10th The Koreans were again four clear and went on to win by five Still it was a big boost for Indian amateur golfing sceneThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever