Back home,Saaniya aims high

With little to show in her trophy cabinet during her junior days,Saaniya first tasted success at the professional circuit when she bagged the second spot in the final leg of the professional tour. It could have gone Sharma’s way but a last minute lapse of concentration meant that Saaniya lost the play-off. A chance meeting with Irina Brar’s caddy Sarvar meant that the Chandigarh golfer was able to work upon her basics. She first tasted success when she won the fifth leg of the tour at Gurgaon last month. “The win has come at right time for me. A lot of things have been going on for the past few months and the win meant that I was able to hit peak form initially during the season. My caddy Sarvar has been a great support to me as he keeps sharing inputs about how Irina used to play. He knows the courses in the city well and it also came handy during the last round of the last leg at Panchkula,” shares Sharma.

While Sharmila Nicollet has been in superb form during the last three tournaments,the return of Simmi Mehra,who was playing in Dubai Open last week,will make things tough for the Chandigarh golfer. But Sharma believes that is she can set her temperament in control,home advantage will work in favour of her. “My form has been good over the past few weeks but I need to be more consistent. My putting was not up to the mark in the first round last week and I made silly mistakes in the second round. Things fell in place for me during the last round and it was because of my controlled temperament. It will be home conditions for me and I want to take advantage of it in the initial rounds,”quips Sharma,who has the best score of four-under 73 during the last round of the sixth leg last week.