Golf | Diksha aspires to be at her best against Chiara and company

Diksha Dagar leads Indian contingent at Hero Women's Indian Open, aiming to improve on third place finish.

Two-time Ladies European Tour champion Diksha Dagar will attempt to improve on her third place finish last year when she tees off with favourite Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland and Mannon de Roey of Belgium, in the $400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open golf tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Diksha spearheads a strong presence of 27 Indians, including five amateurs, in a field of 114 players from 31 countries. She aims to match the effort of Aditi Ashok, the only Indian to win the tournament in 2016, and has five LET titles to her credit.

Chiara is on a high, having won three titles this season, including the $1 million event in Taiwan a fortnight ago. She heads the Order of Merit, and needs to finish ahead of Mannon to seal her place at the top for the season.

The tournament also features three past winners — Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, Camille Chevalier of France and Christine Wolf of Austria. It has 12 players who have won titles on the Tour in the last two seasons.

The most successful among all the champions in the field is Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa with 23 titles.

A bunch of Indians — Pranavi Urs, Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor, Gaurika Bishnoi, Hitaashee Bakshi apart from Amardeep Drall, who had finished joint second two years ago — would be keen to capitalise on the opportunity at home.

From Chiara to Mannon to Alice Hewson of England, everyone agreed that the 14th hole was the trickiest after they went through their practice sessions.