Simi, Sharmila head field in Hero Honda women`s golf

Kolkata: India`s leading women`s professional golfer, Smriti Mehra and current leader on the Hero Honda

Women`s Professional Golf Tour, Sharmila Nicollet will head the field in ninth leg of the event which begins here on Wednesday. A total of 16 pros will be teeing off at the Tollygunge club, which will be hosting a women`s professional golf championship for the first time. The event carries a prize purse of Rs 2.5 lakhs with the winner getting Rs 68,000. Tour leader 19-year-old Nicollet, who is India`s best potential for the 2020 Olympics, will be in the contention for the title along with veteran professional and local lady Smriti. Close on their heels not to be underestimated are Nalini Singh Siwach and Sanniya Sharma. Youngest professional tour player Tanya Wadhwa, 18, will be making her maiden appearance in the city. A former junior grand slam winner in under-12 section, Tanya is based in Texas and turned professional just after the Hero Honda Women`s Indian Open. The ninth leg of the Hero Honda Women`s Professional Golf Tour has been slotted after a short winter break as a warm up prior to the Thailand Ladies Open being held in Bangkok from February 8 to 14 under the aegis of Ladies Asian Golf Tour. The top four players on the Order of Merit of Hero Honda Women`s Professional Golf Tour have received exemption to play in the Ladies European Tour Access Series, which is running from March to September this year. Women`s professional golf now offers a lucrative career for women players with 15 events scheduled for the season 2011-12. PTI