LET Merit leader Chiara Tamburlini stays focussed at HWIO

GURUGRAM: For one so young and only in her rookie season of the Ladies European Tour, Swiss star Chiara Tamburlini exudes a lot of confidence. With three wins this season she has more or less sewn up the 2024 LET Order of Merit. Yet, she does not let her confidence spill into the 'treacherous' zone called overconfidence ahead of the 2024 Hero Women's Indian Open.
Of the dozen players who have won on the LET in either 2023 or 2024, none has done it more than once. The only exception being Tamburlini. The last seven winners of the HWIO won their maiden LET title in India but Tamburlini could well end that streak this week.
On her maiden visit to India, with only two events to go after this week, Tamburlini is 992 points clear of her nearest rival, Manon De Roey. But Tamburlini, 69th in the world and winner last week, is not taking the foot off the accelerator.
Tamburlini said, "Yes, it is my goal to win the Order of Merit. All I can do is try and hit every shot as good as I can. I can't control what other people do. I'm just going to try and do my best."
That simple attitude has fetched her great rewards - three wins and a bunch of Top-10s in 2024. It was a logical transition from an LET Access (2nd rung Tour to LET) season in 2023 that had two wins and six other Top-10s.
She was again modest, "I had a good year on LET Access last year. I just tried to become better at everything. It's a game where you can always get better."
The field has 27 Indians, including five amateurs. The big Indian hopes include double Olympian Diksha Dagar, third last year, Tvesa Malik, a former Top-tenner, and Hero WPGT topper, Hitaashee Bakshi.
Diksha said, "It feels amazing to come back here and I'm very happy to see my friends and peers from the LET. The DLF course is one of the most challenging golf courses I have played on."
Tvesa, for whom DLF is the home course, added, "It's always nice to be back here at DLF. I don't know if I've just been gone too long or if the course has gotten tougher. I've dreamt of doing well at this event for a very, very long time and it's always going to be the ultimate goal."