Vani becomes 1st Indian to grab Australian LPGA card

Vani Kapoor became the first Indian to earn a card for the Australian Ladies PGA Tour (LPGA) after coming through its first-ever Qualifying Tournament at the Ballarat Golf Club here.

Vani shot rounds of 71, 78 and 69 to finish at two-over 218 and was tied-12th with three others.

The top-20 from a field of 81 earned playing rights on the Australian LPGA but there were many other benefits and spots available too.

Other Indian girls in the Australian LPGA Qualifying were Diksha Dagar

(tied-30th with round of 79-73-72); Astha Madan (tied-37th with cards of 75-78-73) and Ridhima Dilawari (tied-57th with cards of 76-79-76).

Despite not making the card, Diksha, Astha and Ridhima could get into some of the Australian LPGA events, like the upcoming Ballarat Icons Australian LPGA Pro-Am, where Diksha and Astha will get a start in the two-day AUD 30,000 event over the weekend alongside Vani.

Earlier, in the tense inaugural Australian LPGA Qualifying Tournament, Tsai Peiying of Taiwan emerged as .