Hitaashee falters to finish third at Indian Open

Gurugram, Oct 12 (PTI) Faltering on the final day, home favourite Hitaashee Bakshi went on a bogey spree to finish third at the Hero Women's Indian Open, where India had three players in top-5 for the first time in the history of the tournament.

Trailing by seven shots at the start of the final day, Singapore's Shannon Tan produced the best card of the day to clinch the title.

She shot 67 in the fourth round and totalled 7-under 281, while Alice Hewson dropped a disastrous double bogey on the 72nd hole to come down from one ahead to one behind and finish in second place.

Hitaashee began the day at 9-under and three clear of the field and reached 10-under with a birdie in the second.

She had four bogeys and a double bogey in six holes after that. The back nine saw two birdies and two more bogeys as Hitaashee dropped from 10-under at one stage to finish at 5-under 283 in third place.

Pranavi Urs (72) was fourth, while Avani Prashanth (71) and Kelsey Bennett (71) were tied for fifth. After Avani, Vani Kapoor (74) was Tied-10th.

Among other Indians, amateur Zara Anand (74) was Tied-15th and Amandeep Drall (76) was T-20. Diksha Dagar (79) finished Tied-41st.

Hitaashee rises from being over 100 on the LET Order of Merit to 56th and will also get a full card to be able to play right from the start next season.

"Honestly, since yesterday, my mind was only on number one. But it's okay, I mean that's golf, right? You can be playing your best golf ever, but not get the result you wanted and this was one of those days," said Hitasshee, putting up a brave face.

"On the other hand, I'm just told that I have kind of secured my full card on the European Tour for next year and that sounds really nice. I've been told that I'm being given a spot on the Taiwan Open. Maybe that's the next one that I play," she added.

Shannon became the first Singaporean to win the Hero Women's Indian Open, while Hewson had her third finish in the Top-12 in three starts. The win here at HWIO also saw Tan climb to the top of this season's LET Order of Merit.

"I'll be honest, I didn't know what was happening back there and I kind of thought I had to make that putt (on the 18th) to maybe force a playoff," said Shannon.

"I gave myself a chance. And then I walked in and someone said I'm still in the race and I asked someone what's going on and figured out what happened back there. I think I'm still pretty much in shock about what happened." Shannon, who revealed that she received her visa on the day of her travel to India, kept her emotions in check as she compiled a final round of 5-under 67 to set the day’s best card and keep herself in the mix.

Meanwhile, Hewson, who had played superbly and steadily without an error for 12 holes, still led the field despite a bogey.

Gingerly and carefully, she kept the lead, even as Shannon crept closer. When Shannon birdied the 17th to reach 7-under and then failed to add another birdie on the 18th, Hewson still led the field at 8-under.

Hewson went to the left rough and then had a tough approach shot. She needed a par to win, but she missed it and then needed a bogey to ensure a play-off.

But even that slipped by, and she dropped to second after being T-11 and T-12 in her last two HWIO appearances in 2022 and 2024.

Shannon, who two years ago won a professional event while being an amateur and then quickly rose up the ranks to play the Olympics, added, "I would say to be honest, my ball striking hasn't been that far off compared to the past three days and it's just the putter was really hot today, made more putts than the past two days." PTI AT AT SSC SSC