Women's Golf Association of India

Diksha makes a great final charge but loses play-off in Morocco; debutant Avani is 16^th

Rabat, Morocco, Feb 9 : Diksha Dagar came within a whisker of winning her third Ladies European Tour title, before losing a play-off at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. The 24-year-old, starting the day at 3-under total and in Tied-14th place, made a great charge in the final round of the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco with a superb 6-under 67 card that helped her set the clubhouse target of 9-under.

Cara Gainer of England joined her there later as Nuria Iturrioz, who at one stage reached 10-under, and Shannon Nan fell back.

Diksha gave it her best. But it was still a good start to the season. Having started the day in T14, she made seven birdies across the last 18 holes, and dropped her only shot of the day on hole 14. Diksha moved to Saudi Arabia for next week’s PIF Saudi Ladies International, along with Gainer.

Debutant Avani Prashanth dropped three bogeys in the middle of the round with some errant shots and a three-putt on the ninth, but managed to shoot 70 and made it to the Top-20 in Tied-16th place. She does have Top-10 finishes on the LET but those came when she was still an amateur.

The third Indian Tvesa Malik missed the cut.

Diksha birdied second, fourth, eighth, 11th, 13th at which point she was 5-under for the day. She dropped a shot on the 14th but got back birdies on the 15th and the 17th for a 6-under.

Gainer secured her first Ladies European Tour (LET) victory as she won in a play-off as she joined Diksha after moving ahead on a crowded leaderboard.

Going into the final day, only a two-shot difference separated the top 10, making it a tight leaderboard with lots of players in contention to win the season opener.

The 29-year-old rolled in birdies on holes two, four, and eight, before another three off the bounce on the back nine. She dropped her only two shots of the day on the front nine.

Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall finished the highest rookie in Tied-eighth and marks a solid start to her first LET season. The Swede clinched LETAS Order of Merit winner and Rookie of the Year last year.

Tan, who came into the final round with a one-shot lead, finished eight-under par after 54 holes. The Singaporean, who won the season opener last year in Kenya, had back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes, with a further birdie on 15. The 20-year-old dropped two shots on the front and back nine to finish in third place in a close leaderboard.

Two players finished in a share of fourth place on seven-under-par after the three rounds. Ireland’s Lauren Walsh and Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz. Walsh had a round of 68 (-5), one shot behind the clubhouse record, as she climbed 17 places on the final day.

Iturrioz is familiar with this course and has a good track record with this tournament having won in 2016 and 2019. A top four finish for the Spaniard makes it another successful tournament in the books.

Next week, the LET heads to Riyadh for the PIF Saudi Ladies International which takes place from February 13-15.