Gurbani pips Aditi to win Karnataka Ladies golf

Bengaluru: Rising star Gurbani Singh played a stunning front nine and held her nerves in the closing stages of the third and final round to win the Usha Karnataka Ladies and Junior girls golf, here on Friday.

Gurbani, who trailed Aditi Ashok by one shot at the end of the second round, landed four birdies in eight holes on the front nine, even as Aditi herself had four birdies. But Gurbani was flawless, while Aditi dropped bogeys on second and fifth. True to their billing as the top amateur stars, Gurbani and Aditi, took their fight to the wire. When they got to the tee on the 10th, the gap still one, though now in the favour of Gurbani, there was a lot of tension. Gurbani dropped a bogey on 10th to bring matters level. She dropped another bogey on par-4 11th, but Aditi double bogeyed to fall one behind. Gurbani birdied the 14th and Aditi birdied the 15th, and both parred the last three holes, to leave Gurbani a winner by one. Gauri Monga`s form oscillated to the extreme once again. After a 77 she carded 66 on second day and shot 75 on the final day to end up at 218, 11 shots behind the winner. Astha Madan (74-71-74) was fourth at 219, while Ridhima Dilawari (74-71-75) was fifth at 220. Vrishali Sinha had one of the better final round of even par 70, but her earlier rounds of 74 and 78 meant she finished at 222 in sixth place. Gurbani and Aditi stayed one-two in the Category A also, while Amrita Anand, 10th overall, was first in Category B with rounds of 75, 73 and 78 and a total of 226. Suchitra Ramesh (78-80-73) was second at 231 and Gurjot Badwal (80-80-79) was third at 239. In Category C, Ananya Barthakur turned the tables in the final round with a card of 77 as she finished on top at 237 (78-82-77), six shots clear of Pranavi Urs (84-81-78) moved into lead in Category C, while overnight leader Ananya Barthakur (78-82) was second. Anika Verma (79-87-82) at 248 was third. PTI