Gaurika Bishnoi was the lone Indian at the competition in Singapore
Gaurika Bishnoi, the 24-year-old Gurgaon resident with multiple wins on the domestic Hero WPGT, shot 74-68 (2-under 142) to finish tied for 45th in the inaugural US$ 774,000 rain shortened Singapore Women’s Open at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore.
The tournament was shortened to 36 holes after the final round on Sunday was called off because of persistent bad weather and featured several of the world’s top ranked lady players, headlined by Thai world No. 3 Atthaya Thitikul and former world No. 1 Shin Ji-yai.
The new event is co-sanctioned by the Singapore Golf Association and Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association and is a part of the Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) series. The series, which combines new and existing golf events, was launched in 2020 by the Asia Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF), an initiative led by a group of golf stakeholders in South Korea.
The Singapore Women’s Open is the first major international golf event fully open to the general public in Singapore for almost three years and was originally scheduled for November 2020 but was cancelled because of the pandemic.
Singapore annually has been hosting two major tournaments – the HSBC Women’s World Championship on the LPGA Tour, and the men’s Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. Both have taken place in the last two years, but spectator attendance has been restricted.
Following the addition of the Singapore Women’s Open, the LAT series is set to expand to seven events next year, including tournaments in Thailand and the Philippines, and 10 in 2024. Organisers have also held discussions with the Japan Golf Association and Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association about adding events in Japan in future seasons.
The Ladies Asian Tour is an interesting development – with many of the world’s top ranked lady players hailing from Asia, it remains to be seen how this new tour progresses.
Credits:-
Photo – LET Flickr