Amateur Avani chews up records, professionals at CGC

Chandigarh: In the world of professional golf tours, the record holder for a winning margin is a title that every top player aspires for. It stamps his/her career profile with the attribute of domination par excellence. As far as the national circuit Hero Ladies Golf Tour is concerned, a new record holder was crowned at the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC) on Friday.But there was a twist to the standard script of record margins on the Hero Tour ever since its inception in 2007. It was not achieved by a vaunted professional but by an amateur, a budding player who just turned a sweet 16.
Bengalaru’s Avani Prashanth won the 15th leg of the Hero Tour at the CGC with a red-hot score of 12-under-par 204 (68, 66, 70) beating the field of professionals by miles, the closest being Gaurika Bishnoi at 217 lagging 13 strokes behind the feisty teen. Chandigarh's very experienced pro, Saaniya Sharma, who is 20 years Prashanth's senior, was a staggering 25 strokes back at 229. The significance lies in the fact that amateur players are given a handful of slots in the pro championships in order to groom them for the big league by making them play along seasoned pros. But Prashanth forcefully turned conventions on their head with her performance at the CGC, which saw her scoring 18 birdies and an eagle over three rounds. It was her third victory on the Hero Tour.
In her unchallenged run to the victory podium on Friday, Prashanth had on Thursday itself vetted the record keeper's appetite. Her 10-stroke lead after 36 holes was one of the largest ever on the Hero Tour.