Gurugram: England’s Liz Young overcame a challenging field and a daunting course to win the 16th edition of the $400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open by one shot at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Sunday.

The 42-year-old from Southampton, in her 15th year as a pro, logged only her second Ladies European Tour (LET) win after some late drama, winning with a 2-under par 286 total to become the second player from England, after Laura Davies in 2010, to win the event.

Young showed remarkable progress, going from T17 and T12 at the halfway mark before rising to solo third on Saturday to stay one shot behind leaders Manon De Roey of Belgium and England’s Alice Hewson going into the final round. It was a battle of nerves with De Roey. A birdie on the 15th helped Young share the lead and then go ahead when the Belgian bogeyed the 17th.

It was far from over though. On the par-5 18th, her third shot found the water. Under pressure, she hit a fine wedge from the drop zone and then holed the putt for a bogey to seal victory.

In with a chance to force a playoff, De Roey could not get up and down as her overhit chip landed on the edge of the bunker. Needing a par putt to take it to the playoff, she could only bogey the hole, finishing in a four-way tie for second.

Singapore’s Shannon Tan, France’s Agathe Sauzon and New Zealand Momoka Kobori, besides De Roey, all finished one-under for the tournament. Only five players finished with a sub-par aggregate. Young’s two-under is the highest winning total since 2007 – Taiwan’s Yani Tseng won at one-under that year.

“Making pars is as important as birdies on such a course, which is what I tried to do over the past two days,” Young, who shot an even-par final round 72, said. It was her 5-under effort on Saturday (8 birdies, 3 bogeys) that brought into contention for a second title, after her first win in Switzerland in 2022.

“I don’t think I made bogeys on bad shots. It’s that kind of a course,” she said.

Among Indians, amateur Mannat Brar (4-over par) was the best finisher at T11 with Pranavi Urs and Hitaashee Bakshi (6-over) T15. Diksha Dagar (12-over) paid the price for a third round 80, finishing T38.

Course correction needed?

Among the 27 Indian pros and amateurs, nine made the cut. By comparison, among the 32 Indians in last year’s field, 10 made the cut and Diksha Dagar (3), Avani Prasanth (T5) and Gaurika Bishnoi (T8) finished in the top 10.

In 2022, 30 Indians participated and 15 made it to the weekend. Of them, Amandeep Drall (T2), Aditi Ashok (4), Bishnoi (T6), and Vani Kapoor (T8) were in the top 10.

Since it was redesigned by Gary Player in 2015, the DLF course has emerged as one of the tougher venues on the tour that routinely tests all aspects of the game. This year, the greens have played extra hard, putting a premium on putting and approach shots.

“You can never be sure when to hit long or short on such a course. I don’t think I played too bad, to be honest,” Switzerland’s current LET Order of Merit leader Chiara Tamburlini, who failed to make the cut, said. The 24-year-old had come in as the favourite after winning in Thailand the previous week for a third triumph in her dream rookie season.

Pranavi Urs, the best-placed Indian on Day 2 at T7, slipped to T21 on Day 3 before ending at T15. “I have played a few times here but this is the toughest this course has behaved this year. Some of the good shots are being penalised,” she said.

The tournament saw only six eagles in all, none by Indians.

The green speed and a tennis-ball bounce made the course on a par with LPGA venues that suit players who hit longer and impart greater spin. “You can’t have a LPGA-level course for a LET event. The girls were bound to struggle,” Diksha’s father, Col Narinder Dagar, said.

At the men’s Indian Open in March, Japan’s winner Keita Nakajima shot 17-under while Germany’s Marcel Siem won in 2023 with a score of 14-under. The winning aggregates in the 2023 and 2022 Women’s Indian Open editions were 15-under (Aline Krauter-Germany) and 13-under (Olivia Cowan-Germany) respectively.

The cut this year was applied at 10-over, unprecedented in the tournament’s history. “Last year’s scores were a bit of an aberration,” tournament director Joao Pinto said. “This course has always played tough, and after the first few rounds, even the players knew that. We’ve been watering the course every morning for six minutes, but the course’s character is to play tough.”

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