Olivia Cowan had an outstanding weekend, winning the Women's Indian Open at the DLF Golf & Country Club with a strong 4-under 68 to close off the final round.
After no less than 27 Top-10 performances in 96 appearances on the Tour, German golfer Cowan, 26, achieved her first LET victory.
According to a press release, Cowan finished with a score of 13-under 275 and defeated Caroline Hedwall (71), who dropped to joint second place with the Indian after making a bogey on the 18th, and Amandeep Drall (72) by three shots.
Cowan won the largest check of her career, worth US$ 60,000, at the Women's Indian Open, while 2011 champion Hedwall finished in second place for the third time in five appearances.
It was Drall's best finish in her LET career, and it earned her US$ 6,000 more than third place would have. Each of Hedwall and Drall received US$30,000.
Despite being on the Tour since 2015, Cowan was overcome with emotion when she won her first LET title. She said, "I have come close a few times, but I am so happy to get over the line. I love coming here and this is going to be one of my most memorable moments and I will come back again to try and win this Trophy again."
She added, "I was quite relaxed to be honest the whole weekend. I was not really thinking of winning this time. I just wanted to go out there and have a good mindset and just play good golf. I was playing good golf so I just decided to trust that and come out today and just see what happens really."
It was a terrific week for Indian golfers, who had four players in the Top-8, including Aditi Ashok (71), who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics. Gaurika Bishnoi (73), who tied for sixth place at 4-under, and Vani Kapoor (69), who finished tied for eighth, also had tremendous weeks. Gaurika's best finish at the Women's Indian Open was a tie for sixth.
Avani Prashanth, an amateur from India, had the day's second-best score with a 5-under 67, which helped her place T-12 overall. Nishtha Madan (73), a player on the Epson Tour in the US, and Hitaashee Bakshi (71), who last week won the LET Pre-Qualifiers to enter the Final stage of Qualifying School, two more young Indians, were tied for twentieth place.
Cowan's best Tour performance this year was a T-4 at her home tournament, the Amundi German Masters. Her previous two trips to India resulted in performances of T-19 in 2017 and T-9 in 2018.
In Jeddah, Pia Babnik of Sweden won by one stroke over Cowan, who had a two-shot lead going into the final hole but double bogeyed it. She said, "I was mindful of what can happen even on the last hole.
