The 23-year-old Delhiite, who has been shuffling between Europe and India, carded a brilliant three-under 68 — the best round of the event — to total 209 and wrap up a commanding six-shot victory at the Clover Greens in Hosur.
Order of Merit leader Gaurika Bishnoi, who started the day one shot adrift of Vani, carded 72 to share the second spot with Amandeep Drall.
Sedate note
Vani, playing in just her fourth WGAI event of the season, started off on a sedate note as windy and overcast conditions made scoring quite difficult. She figured out quickly that an all-out approach could be met with disaster, so decided to play percentage golf and chose the holes to attack carefully.
After parring the opening four holes, she picked up her first birdie on the fifth and then turned in confidently after birdieing the eighth.
She picked up her third shot on 11th and with her rivals falling by the wayside by then, Vani just did the basics right to claim her third title of the season.
Gaurika, meanwhile, had to be content with a third second-place finish of the season. She bogeyed the third hole but quickly made amends by birdieing the fourth. She dropped a shot on ninth, picked up a shot on the 12th but ended on a very disappointing note, double-bogeying the 18th.
DH News Service
Leading scores (after 54 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 209: Vani Kapoor (70, 71, 68); 215: Amandeep Drall (71, 72, 72), Gaurika Bishnoi (69, 73, 73); 217: Smriti Mehra (75, 69, 73); 218: Saaniya Sharma (75, 72, 71); 219:Gursimar Badwal (78, 72, 69).
