Millie Saroha rallies to win Usha Maharashtra Open Ladies title

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Mille Saroha could even afford a double bogey on the 18th hole as she held on for a comfortable win at the Usha Western India Ladies on Thursday.

Saroha, who turns 17 later this month, carded a final round of two-over 73 and finished with a total of 225, three clear of Gurbani Singh (75) who aggregated 228.

This was Millie’s second win after her success at the Usha Northern India Ladies and she was also third at the Usha Eastern Ladies.

Arjuna Awardee Nonita Lall Qureshi, very well-known coach now, gave away the prizes to the winners.

Ridhima Dilawari, who led in the first two rounds crumbled under pressure on the final day and ended with a score of 83 to drop to third at 230. Raksha Phadke (78) at 231, Ankita Kedalya (79) at 233 and Seher Atwal (80) at 236 took the fourth to sixth spots.

Millie, starting the day five shots behind overnight Ridhima, opened with a birdie on the first and played her front nine in one-over 36. On the back nine she even very steady with one birdie on 11th and pars all the way till the 18th. There the tension got the better of her and she double bogeyed the closing par-5 18th. But she could afford that as Gurbani was way behind.

Gurbani, who played the front nine in three-over 38, double bogeyed the last and ended second. Gurbani, who was second, has won three titles this season.
Ridhima had just one birdie but a string of bogeys, one double and one triple bogey and ended third after holding a six-shot lead at the end of the first day and she also led by five after 36 holes.

Amandeep Drall, winner of Usha Eastern India Ladies was a distant 12th this week.
Millie and Gurbani were the top in Category A, while Ridhima Dilawari and Ankita Kedalya were the top two in Category B.

Arushi Pandey carded her best round of the week with a 79 and won the Category C honours and Riya Ahuja was second with Tanrika Singh third. In Category D, Tanishka Kumar (86) emerged the winner while Anika Varma was second and Vasundhara Tihara was third.
This was the penultimate event of the Ladies amateur Tour with only one more event, the All India Amateurs to be held in December at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), left on the schedule.