Pinehurst [US], July 31 : Mahreen Bhatia finished very strongly with three birdies in the last four holes, including two in the last two, but finished a gallant second in Girls 14 at the US Kids World Teens Championships at Pinehurst. The second place this week is in addition to the second place she claimed in the European US Kids Golf Championships in May.
A bogey on the 16th and the earlier ones on the 10th and 12th at the Pinehurst No. 6 course, proved costly for the talented Indian teen. Mahreen with rounds of 69-69-72 totalled 6-under 210 and was second behind American Maria Isabella Errichetto, who shot 71 in the final round.
There were other good results, too, for the Indian contingent in Boys 13, where Kartik Singh (69-71-69) totalled 7-under 209 to finish third behind Thailand’s Ajalawich Anantasethakul (65-71-69) for a total of 11-under and American Rory Asselta (67-71-69).
Lavanya Gupta competing in Girls 15-18 made a great run on the final day, including five birdies on the front nine, three of them in a row, but a closing bogey on the 18th cost her a better finish. Placed fifth after the second round, Lavanya shot the day’s equal best of 68, just like Olivia Hasselbach, whose last hole birdie and the Indian’s last hole bogey made a swing of two shots, which was the winning margin for the American from Tampa, Florida.
Colombian Laura Sofia Espinosa Gonzalez (73-68-71) at 212 was second, one shot behind winner, Olivia, and one ahead of Lavanya.
With one second-place and two third-place finishes, the US Kids Indian Team once again had a successful outing at the World Championships.
Next week another group of about 12 players from US Kids Golf India will play in the World Championships for Boys and Girls between six and 12.
Among other Indians, in the Boys 13 category, Vihaan Jain (76-74-72) improved further on the final day with a 72 that took him to T-30, up nine places from the second round. Also in Boys 13, Arshvant Srivastava, who had a rough week shot 78 and ended T-72.
In Boys 14, Ranveer Mitroo (74-73-74) was Tied-12th, while Udai Aditya Middha (74-80-75) improved 12 places to finish T-34 and Tejas Mishra (76-76-79) slipped to T-45, down 13 places.
Among Boys 15-18, Ranveer Singh Dhupia (76-76-78) improved 11 placed and was T-44, while among Girls 13, Asara Sawhney (83-79-81) finished T-29, one place below where she was after the second round.
The U.S. Kids Golf World Teen Championship is recognised as a ranked event for the Junior Golf Scoreboard and the American Junior Golf Association besides allowing the players to gain World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
World-class players emerging from the US Kids include the likes of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time Major winners Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, and Sahith Theegala among others while women stars include Lexi Thompson and the latest women’s Major winner, Allisen Corpuz, who won the US Women’s Open last month, is a three-time winner and twice runner-up at US Kids. Aditi Ashok, India’s top woman pro, and Avani Prashanth, India’s top amateur also played with distinction at US Kids events.
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