Pornanong Phatlum wins Women’s Indian Open 14 years later with closing 65

Pornanong Phatlum has won the Hero Women’s Indian Open again, 14 years after her previous victory at the tournament. On Sunday, 25 October 2026, the Thai professional closed with a seven-under 65 at DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram, India. Her 72-hole total of 11-under 277 left her four shots ahead of India’s Vani Kapoor.

The final-round turnaround

Kapoor had started Sunday with the lead at five under, one clear of Phatlum and defending champion Shannon Tan. Playing on her home course, Kapoor was seeking to become the first Indian winner since Aditi Ashok in 2016.

Phatlum, however, saved her lowest score for the moment that mattered most. Her 65 compared with Kapoor’s 70, turning a one-shot deficit into a four-shot victory: a five-shot reversal across the last 18 holes. The weekly sequence of 72, 71, 69 and 65 tells its own story of a player steadily finding her rhythm.

The Gary Player-designed championship course at DLF is known for demanding accuracy and patience. Phatlum’s ability to finish strongly made the difference. Kapoor took second at seven under (281), Singapore’s Shannon Tan finished third at four under (284), and India’s Pranavi Urs shared fourth with the Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova at three under.

A fourth Indian Open title, on a different layout

Phatlum had already won this event in 2008, 2009 and 2012. She had not returned to play the tournament in India for 14 years. Her earlier titles came on another configuration of the DLF complex; this was therefore not simply a repeat performance on familiar holes.

The 36-year-old has spent many seasons competing on the LPGA circuit, with runner-up at the 2018 Women’s British Open among her best major-championship results. This latest success is her fourth Women’s Indian Open victory. That event-specific total should not be mistaken for her Ladies European Tour title count, as earlier editions had different sanctioning arrangements.

Why it matters

For Phatlum, the title marks a powerful late-career return to a tournament closely connected with her professional history. For Kapoor, second place on home soil is an important result, even as the wait for another Indian champion goes on.

Result verified against the Ladies European Tour’s final scoreboard. Image: archival photograph of Phatlum at the May 2013 Kingsmill Championship, not the 2026 Indian Open. Keith Allison / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, unmodified. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pornanong_Phatlum_(8700977802).jpg · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/