Modest finish for Avani, Nishna as Eila wins WAAP by five shots

Avani Prashanth and Nishna Patel, the two Indians who made the cut at the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship (WAAP), ended the event on a rather subdued note with 3-over 75 each on the final day.

Avani, the Queen Sirikit Cup's individual champion, shot rounds of 73-71-74-75 to total 5-over 289 and finished tied 24th, while Nishna Patel, playing the WAAP for the third time, also carded 75, and with rounds of 71-72-77-75, totalled 7-over 291 to finish tied 35th.

The other four Indians -- Anika Varma, Vidhatri Urs, Mannat Brar and Lavanya Jadon -- missed the cut.

Eila Galitsky, a Canadian who holds Thailand's citizenship, finished on top with a 4-under 68 card in the final round. She had finished tied 35th during last year's edition of the WAAP.

It completed a commanding five-shot win over Korea's Kim Minsol (70) and helped Eila pick the biggest prize purse of her fledgling career.

Eila, who finished first at 14-under, confessed her target was to do even better but could only manage to equal her previous best score.

Avani, starting from the 10th, had two birdies against five bogeys as she found the greens difficult to handle. Nishna had one birdie against four bogeys.

While Avani flies off to the United States to play the prestigious Sage Valley Invitational, Nishna will return home to play in the domestic Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour as an amateur entry.

Kim Minsol was second at 9-under, while another Korean Yeji Park (70), Hong Kong's Sophie Han (71), New Zealand's Fiona Xu (71) and Japan's Yuna Araki (72) were all tied for third at six-under 282.

The 16-year-old Eila’s parents were crying with joy on the sidelines of the 18th green as their daughter rounded off an amazing win.

Eila, who started playing at the age of eight, said she never really understood what a 'Major' meant until she was 10. ''For us, a Major meant when we went to Bangkok to play against top-ranked players,'' she said.

Now she gets to play three Majors -- the AIG Women's Open, The Amundi Evian Championship and The Chevron Championship -- as well as the Hana Financial Group Championship, ISPS Handa Australian Open, The 120th Women's Amateur Championship and an invitation to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA) later this month.

''At the start of the week I could not even imagine this,'' said the champion.

Eila played steady with just one birdie on the front nine -- on Par-4 sixth -- and added a second one on the 10th. A dropped shot on Par-4 14th was her only bogey of the day and she finished in style with birdies in three of the last four holes, including the 18th.

''The only time I felt comfortable and sure was after the first shot on the 18th, because anything can happen on a golf course,'' said the smiling Eila.

Eila follows in the footsteps of Atthaya Thitikul, who won the inaugural championship in 2018 in Singapore and rose to No. 1 in World Amateur Golf Rankings.

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