Diksha Dagar has every right to be confident heading into her home event at this week’s Hero Women’s Indian Open.
The left-handed star is enjoying her best season to date on the Ladies European Tour, racking up six top-10 finishes and sealing one victory at the Czech Ladies Open — her second win on the circuit in five years.
Climbing to fourth in the Race to Costa del Sol in the process while also landing the accolade for the best ever showing by an Indian at a major — Dagar finished T21 at this year’s AIG Women’s Open — the confidence is justifiable for the 22-year-old as she aims to become her nation’s second winner of the event on home soil.
“It would be a very proud moment to win the Hero Women’s Indian Open,” said Dagar, who would follow in Aditi Ashok’s footsteps from 2016 with a victory this week. “I’m feeling good, this season has been great so far, clearly, my best in five years playing on the LET. This year has pushed my confidence and I’m feeling confident that I will do well. I will do my best.”
The two-time LET winner is one of 32 Indian players teeing up at DLF Golf & Country Club this week, but it’s not just her fine form which makes Dagar the home favourite heading into the 15th staging of the event.
“DLF is like my second home golf course,” Dagar explains, who lives just 30 minutes from the facility on the outskirts of New Delhi. “The greens and the facilities are very good. It is a very tough golf course but it gives you very good preparation for the international events.
“It’s been very nice to be home after playing a lot of golf internationally. Being here at home is a lot different, it’s a bit easier and you have more crowds supporting you. It feels really good.
“My family will be here. I’ll be honest, golf is growing a lot more in India so a lot of them will be coming to watch.
The Indian Open will forever be the tournament which first put Dagar on the map after the Deaflympics star won the low amateur award on her LET debut in 2016, aged just 15-years-old.
“It was a good thing,” Dagar said. “At that time I used to think it was a very big event and I knew it was a very big opportunity. I am grateful to my family and the people that have supported me through the journey. Now when I play here on the Ladies European Tour in India, I get flashbacks and very good feelings.”
As for the Race to Costa del Sol, Dagar, currently in fourth position on 1,484.61 points, can leapfrog Celine Boutier who sits in first should she finish solo second or better in New Delhi.
But while the prize is now a reality for the Indian sensation with four events remaining in the 2023 schedule, Dagar is continuing to stay grounded as we approach the crunch end of proceedings.
“I’m not thinking too much about that,” she said. “Yes, I’m hoping to do well and I am trying my best, but I am just going to keep playing my game and do the best that I can.
“My secret has been that I have been focusing on my game and working on it a lot more. I have been putting myself in winning positions and the secret is just believing in myself more.”
Dagar gets her 2023 Hero Women’s Indian Open campaign under way at 11.25am local time on Thursday playing alongside fellow LET winners Nuria Iturrioz from Spain and Manon De Roey from Belgium.
Diksha Dagar. LET
