Shannon wins Women's Indian Open in a dramatic finish; Hitaashee falters to finish third

Gurugram (Haryana) [India], October 13 : Trailing by seven shots at the start of the final day, Singapore's Shannon Tan produced the best card of the day to win the Women's Indian Open 2025 in a sensational finish.

Shannon shot 67 in the 4th round and totalled 7-under 281, while Alice Hewson dropped a disastrous double bogey on the 72nd hole to come down from one ahead to one behind and finish in second place here at DLF Golf and Country Club at the $500,000 event, as per a release from the Indian Open.

In the process, Shannon became the first Singaporean to win the Hero Women's Indian Open, while Hewson had her third finish in the Top 12 in three starts. The win here at HWIO also saw Tan climb to the top of this season's LET Order of Merit.

With three players in the Top-5, it was the best showing by the Indian contingent in the history of HWIO.

India's best hope, Hitaashee Bakshi, began the day at 9-under and three clear of the field and reached 10-under with a birdie in the second. She collapsed in a manner of speaking and had four bogeys and a double bogey in six holes after that.

The back nine saw two birdies and two more bogeys as Hitaashee dropped from 10-under at one stage to finish at 5-under 283 in third place.

She said, "Honestly, since yesterday, my mind was only on number one. But it's okay, I mean, that's golf, right? You can be playing your best golf ever, but not get the result you wanted, and this was one of those days. On the other hand, I'm just told that I have kind of secured my full card on the European Tour for next year, and that sounds really nice."

"I've been told that I'm being given a spot on the Taiwan Open. Maybe that's the next one that I play," she added.

Hitaashee rises from being over 100 on the LET Order of Merit to 56th and will also get a full card to be able to play right from the start next season.

"That was a good takeaway from this week," she smiled and said.

Pranavi Urs (72) was fourth, while Avani Prashanth (71) and Kelsey Bennett (71) were tied for fifth. After Avani, Vani Kapoor (74) tied for 10th.

Among other Indians, amateur Zara Anand (74) was Tied-15th and Amandeep Drall (76) was T-20. Diksha Dagar (79) finished Tied-41st.

A dazed Shannon, who was tied-second a year ago at this event, confessed, "I'll be honest, I didn't know what was happening back there and I kind of thought I had to make that putt (on the 18th) to maybe force a playoff. I gave myself a chance. And then I walked in and someone said I'm still in the race and I asked someone what's going on and figured out what happened back there. I think I'm still pretty much in shock about what happened."

"I didn't really know what was going on in the group behind me until maybe hole 15, and I was like, I'm really back and knowing DLF, the closing holes can be quite challenging. So I just told myself to keep sticking to the game plan and just try to give myself more chances."

Shannon, who revealed that she received her visa on the day of her travel to India, kept her emotions in check as she compiled a final round of 5-under 67 to set the day's best card and keep herself in the mix.

Meanwhile, Alice Hewson, who had played superbly and steadily without an error for 12 holes, still led the field despite a bogey. Gingerly and carefully, she kept the lead, even as Shannon crept closer. When Shannon birdied the 17th to reach 7-under and then failed to add another birdie on the 18th, Hewson still led the field at 8-under.

Hewson went to the left rough and then had a tough approach shot. She needed a par to win, but she missed it and then needed a bogey to ensure a play-off. But even that slipped by, and she dropped to second after being T-11 and T-12 in her last two HWIO appearances in 2022 and 2024.

Shannon went on, "I was supposed to get here Sunday, and then I had to change my flight to Tuesday morning. I ended up getting my visa four hours before that flight, so it wasn't ideal. But I think overall I'm just really happy to have made it here to India, and there's nothing I can really do about it. So I just told myself to take the opportunity that nearly wasn't there, and I'm glad I did."

Shannon, who two years ago won a professional event while being an amateur and then quickly rose up the ranks to play the Olympics, added, "I would say to be honest, my ball striking hasn't been that far off compared to the past three days and it's just the putter was really hot today, made more putts than the past two days.

"I think this course quite suits me in terms of being a ball striker and being able to hit it quite straight and accurate and I think it's played a huge part for me this week."

"I've played here last year and I've really been looking forward to coming back here especially losing by one last year and I was like I know this course suits me, I kind of know I've got an advantage here so I've been looking forward to this event for a long, long time and I think to be able to win this week really means a lot."

For Hewson, the bogey on the sixth and the double on the 18th proved to be disastrous after looking to be in command till the last hole.

She said, "I had a really solid day overall. I had a couple of loose tee shots out there today, but I fought hard throughout the round and made some really nice par putts throughout the day.

"It was just one loose drive on 18, which unfortunately led to a double bogey, but I couldn't be happier for Shannon. If you can't win yourself, it's always good when you see one of your mates win out here too."

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