Pornanong Phatlum pips Vani Kapoor to Women's Indian Open title

New Delhi: So near, yet so far. India's wait for a title at their home Ladies European Tour (LET) event -- the Hero Women's Indian Open -- was about to end before a nervy Vani Kapoor and an immaculate Pornanong Phatlum rewrote the script to dash hopes of a few hundred fans gathered at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Sunday afternoon.

Towards the end of the front nine on the fourth and final day of the premier women's tournament in India, home hope Vani Kapoor was leading three-time champion Pornanong Phatlum by a stroke.

But then Phatlum picked up and as the back nine wore on and Vani erred a couple of times, Phatlum opened up a three-stroke lead. In the end she carded a bogey-free seven-under 65 to win the title.

The 36-year-old seasoned LPGA player's previous wins in the tournament had come in 2008, 2009 and 2012. She conquered the Gary Player Course here with a four-day score of 11-under 277.

"That's golf at the end of the day. But what I'm really happy is that, you know, I stayed true to my process. I gave it my all. It was really nice competing with Phatlum and she played some flawless golf. And I just lost to a better golfer today," said Vani after the tournament. Vani finished with day's score of 2-under 70 and seven-under 281 for the four days.

"All in all, a lot of good things that I'm taking back with me. A lot of more confidence. I just believe in myself so much more now. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what next year holds for me."

Vani bogeyed the 10th hole, birdied the 11th to hold back the advantage. But then she bogeyed the 12th and the 13th holes to hand over the advantage back to Phatlum who parred the holes from 10th to 14th. Although Vani birdied the 15th but Phatlum stretched the lead to three strokes by birdying the 15th and 16th. Phatlum parred the last two holes while Vani copped a bogey on the last hole to lose by four strokes.

"I just hit like two bad shots. Left myself a few chips which were not the best. And I think that's something that made all the difference. And she didn't have any error today," added Vani Kapoor.

Pranavi Urs who, for a large phase, was in third place finished tied fourth, whereas defending champion Shannon Tan ended in tied third place with even par for the day and four-under 284 for the tournament.

Tags : Pornanong Phatlum, Golf, Vani Kapoor, Indian Open, Pranavi Urs