The strong European Team got off to a winning start at the Skills Challenge, the traditional forerunner to the Hero Women’s Indian Open at the challenging Gary Player course at the DLF Golf Resort. The Europeans emerged 3-1 winners against the Rest of the World Team, which included two Indians.
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The European team included Camille Chevalier, Caroline Hedwall, Celine Boutier and Carly Booth, while four players representing the Rest of the World team were Beth Allen, Sarah Kemp, Vani Kapoor and Tvesa Malik.
French star Camille Chevalier, who has been looking at the Hero Women’s Indian Open to turn around her form and fortunes this season, set the tone by winning the “Close to Pin from 90 yards” contest, which set the ball rolling for the evening. She was just 12 inches from hole and that gave the European their first points.
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Off the next Skill, which required a lot of precision, young Tvesa Malik, hit the ‘Hero Bike’ stationed in the middle of the lake once and emerged the winner to make it 1-1.
Celine Boutier of France, who already has one win this season on the Ladies European Tour, was the best when it came to “Bunker shots” and she finished 18 inches from the holes.
She was again the star, when it came to the ‘Long Putt’ and saw the ball stop just 5.5 inches from hole.
Each team comprised four players, but only two were nominated for each Challenge. The two nominated players took three shots each with the best effort leading to a win.
The winning team in each Skill also received Rs. 60,000, which was to be split equally between all four team members.