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Neha, Amandeep and Smriti contenders at 18th Leg of Hero WPG Tour

Kolkata, December 11: Neha Tripathi, who has skipped the Qualifying School at the Ladies European Tour to gain some valuable practice time and to consolidate her game in the New Year, will be looking to add a second title as the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour comes to an end with the 18th and final leg of the 2018 season at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

Neha, who participated in some events on the Ladies European Tour this year, was not able to achieve the necessary consistency and is therefore re-looking and working on her game.

Neha, who has one win this season, will have Amandeep Drall, Smriti Mehra and Gursimar Badwal as her main rivals. While Smriti is looking for her first win of 2018, Amandeep has won three times while Gursimar has won twice.

The Hero Order of Merit has, however, been settled with Tvesa Malik, who is not here this week, having secured the top spot. Tvesa, who played each of the first 17 legs, has won four times and earned Rs.15,89,200, while Amandeep aggregated Rs.11,56,000 in second place. Following them is Neha with Rs. 10,48,200. Gursimar, who has won Rs.9,65,000, could go past the Rs.10 lakh mark with a good showing this week.

The top stars starting from Tvesa are missing this week as they are playing in the final stage of the Ladies European Tour Q-School in Marrakesh, Morocco. Seven Indian players are participating including amateur Diksha Dagar. The others are Tvesa Malik, Ridhima Dilawari, Astha Madan, Saaniya Sharma, Sharmila Nicollet and Vani Kapoor.

Khushi Khanijau and Gursimar Badwal will start the first day’s proceedings in the first 2-ball, while Preetinder Kaur and Tavleen Batra will follow in the second. Smriti Mehra, Amandeep Drall and Millie Saroha will constitute the third group, with Hita Prakash, Siddhi Kapoor and Mehar Atwal making up the penultimate group. The final threesome will be Afshan Fatima, Suchitra Ramesh and Neha Tripathi.