Nicollet hopes to repeat honours

She may have gone past all other Indian contenders at the European Tour qualifying school in Spain and even beaten other international golfers in the playoff for the last spot.

She may have gone past all other Indian contenders at the European Tour qualifying school in Spain and even beaten other international golfers in the playoff for the last spot. But come Tuesday,Sharmila Nicollet will have to up her game to fight it out with in-form competitors on the Women’s Pro Golf Tour if she hopes to repeat her last season’s feat of winning the order of merit.

After qualifying for the European Tour,Sharmila had skipped the last two events on the domestic circuit and that has increased the prize money-gap between her and Nalini Singh Siwach,who is placed second and in-form Smriti Mehra,who won the last tournament in Kolkata and leads the money list.

Sharmila returns to the Rs 75,000 12th leg scheduled to be held at Jaypee Greens from Tuesday after she missed the cut at the New Zealand Women’s Open by one shot. For the first time on the WGAI tour,international players will also be participating. Japanese Mika Ikemura,who is a newbie on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour,and 41-year-old Japanese Seiko Miyata,both of whom have earlier played the Women’s Indian Open,will also be teeing off in Noida.

While amateurs Vani Kapoor and Aditi Ashok,both of whom won a tournament last year on the pro circuit are giving this leg a miss because of academic compulsions,others in contention will be tour regulars Neha Tripathi,Saaniya Sharma,Shraddhanjali Singh,Ankita Tiwana and Meghna Bal.

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. With only three events remaining,she needs to work for top finishes to have a chance at the season-ending honours again. The Jaypee Greens comes back on the schedule after the Tour skipped an event in Jaipur. The next event will be the BT Pro-AM of Champions.

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