Avani Prashanth and her father have a little ritual where the young golfer, after every practice round, gives her father an estimate of a winning score on that particular course. At the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club for the 43rd Queen Sirikit Cup, the 16-year-old reckoned “16 under could potentially be a winning score”.
“My heart only wished that her prediction would come true, because that would increase her confidence in her own assessments,” Prashanth said.
Not only was the teen’s prediction pretty accurate, she also managed to produce that score herself. In doing so, Avani became the first Indian golfer to capture the individual crown across the 43 editions of the Queen Sirikit Cup, a prestigious event for amateur golfers in the Asia-Pacific region, and also help India to a best-ever second place in the team competition.
Avani finished with a total of 16-under (68, 66, 70, 68), a whopping 10 strokes ahead of New Zealand’s Fiona Xu of (68-73-72-69) who was six-under. Local hope Rianne Mikhaela Malixi (68-73-68-74) and Korea’s Hyunjo Yoo (70-71-71-71) finished tied for third place. Starting the final round with a five-stroke lead over Malixi, the Bengaluru girl produced a brilliant back nine that included four birdies in the last eight holes.
Riding on Avani’s historic outing, the three-member Indian team also comprising Vidhatri Urs and Nishna Patel ensured a second-place finish, giving the mighty Koreans a run for their money. While South Korea, comprising its teenaged stars Kim Min-sol, Yoo Hyun-jo and Seo Kyo-rim, had an aggregate total of 12-under 564, the Indians finished with 7-under 569. Individually, Vidhatri (74-77-72-74) finished tied 19th while Nishna (80-78-74-75) was tied 30th.
To put this result in perspective, India finished ninth in the last year’s competition in Singapore, and Avani 24th in the individual list. The best show by an Indian team prior to this has been fourth, both coming at home—at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in 1998 and the Delhi Golf Club in 2011 (Aditi Ashok was part of this team).
To also put the Indian team’s spirited challenge to the Koreans in perspective, Korea have won the team title a record 22 times (Australia, at 9, are the second best), including in seven of the last eight editions. Sixteen individual champions have come from the country, with Avani being the first from India.
“It’s been a long-awaited win and I’m excited for what the rest of the year holds,” Avani said in Manila. “It’s a little frustrating that I won’t be going to Augusta this year, but I’ll hope to make it there in 2024. I’m just happy to get this win and I hope I can carry this form into the WAAP (Women’s Asia Pacific Amateur Championship).”
Last year, a 15-year-old Avani played at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur as the first Indian at the iconic event, being only one of four golfers ranked outside the top-100 to make the cut after two rounds. This was after she was invited to play at the prestigious Sage Valley junior event, where she finished tied 6th.
Avani has since broken into the top 100 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (she is currently 93rd). Earlier this month, Avani finished 9th at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, the same pro event that Aditi Ashok, her fellow senior golfer from Bengaluru, won.
“This win is tremendous for Avani. There were at least 8-9 golfers in this event that are ranked higher than her. She went past all of them, and quite convincingly at that,” said Prashanth, who introduced Avani to golf at age four by taking her along to the Manesar Golf Club in Gurugram.
With a naturally aggressive style of play, Avani improved her long hitting—one of her biggest strengths—by practicing on a simulator at their home in Bengaluru during the Covid pandemic. “A couple of years ago I wasn’t the longest hitter, and now I’m hitting longer than the same people I used to hit much shorter than,” Avani said earlier.