NOIDA: Sharmila Nicollet, who skipped the last two events on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour will be back in an attempt to narrow the gap that has opened up with the top-two Smriti Mehra and Nalini Singh Siwach.
Sharmila returns to the 12th leg scheduled to be held at the Jaypee Greens from Tuesday. Sharmila, the only Indian player to qualify for the Ladies European Tour, played at the NZ Women’s Open where she encountered tough conditions in the first round and then despite a great second round, she missed the cut by one shot.
The field includes two Japanese players, Mika Ikemura and Seiko Miyata, who have earlier played on the Hero Womens Indian Open. Both are also members of the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.
On the Women’s Indian Pro Tour, Smriti leads the Money List with Rs. 5,59,650 and Nalini is second with Rs. 5,25,100. Sharmila, winner of the Money List honours in the previous season, is third at Rs. 4,16,400. So she will need to do very well in the remaining three events to get back to her top position.
Other Indians stars in contention will be Neha Tripathi, Saaniya Sharma, Shraddhanjali Singh, Ankita Tiwana and Meghna Bal.
The 6,125-yard course is all primed up for the event at the Greg Norman layout, which has a lot of water bodies and massive bunkers. Chilly winds, that are expected this week, could be another challenge for the golfers.
The Jaypee Greens comes back to the schedule after the Tour skipped an event in Jaipur. The next event will be the BT Pro-AM of Champions.
