Amandeep cuts Gursimar’s lead to one shot at Oxford

By Rahul Banerji

Amandeep Drall turned in the day’s only sub-par round, shooting a 1-under 71 at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune on Thursday, to close within one shot of leader Gursimar Badwal after two rounds in the second leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.

Gursimar, who held a five-shot lead after 18 holes, carded a 3-over 75 after being five-over after 13 holes. She is now 1-under 143, while Amandeep is even par 144.

Tvesa Malik (73), the 2018 Hero Order of Merit winner, was tied third with rookie Sifat Alag (74) at 3-over 147. Winner of the first leg, Neha Tripathi had a rough day with a 4-over 76 and was fifth at 5-over 149.

Disastrous run

Ananya Datar (74) was sole sixth at 152, while Mille Saroha (74) and Gaurika Bishnoi (80), who had a disastrous four-hole run of two bogeys and two doubles bogeys between the fifth and eighth holes, were in shared seventh place.

Afshan Fatima (78) was ninth, while Khushi Khanijau (77) and Suchitra Ramesh (80) were tied for 10th place.

Gursimar and Amandeep played in the lead group with Sifat being the third. Gursimar dropped a shot on the third hole but Amandeep had a double bogey on the next. Tvesa, who had four birdies on the front nine also gave away a lot of shots, yet was the only player to turn in under-par for the front nine.

Sifat had her woes with a double and a bogey on consecutive holes but a birdie saw her play the first nine in two-over 38 like Gursimar.

Fightback

On the back nine, Gursimar dropped three shots in four holes between 10th and 13th at which point all her lead had disappeared. But she then staged a fine fightback for three birdies in a row. 

Amandeep added two birdies of her own but Gursimar’s three-in-a-row gave her a two-shot lead yet again. However, the bogey on 18th meant she was just one clear of Amandeep at the end of the second day.

Tvesa, after being one-under for the front nine, made no headway on the back nine and in fact slipped back with two-over 38, with two bogeys against no birdies. She was tied-third with Sifat, who during the day had three birdies, three bogeys and a double in her 74.

Final day groups

In the final round on Friday, Dolma Rawat, Hita Prakash and Mehar Atwal will go out first, followed by Ayesha Kapur, Komal Chaudhary and Sonam Chugh. The day’s third group will see Jyotsana Singh, Ishvari Prasanna and Smriti Mehra, while Siddhi Kapoor, Suchitra Ramesh and Khushi Khanijau are in the fourth group. 

The fifth group has Afshan Fatima, Gaurika and Millie Saroha, while the penultimate threesome has Ananya Datar, Neha and Sifat. The lead group comprises Tvesa, Amandeep and Gursimar.

Also read: Pranavi Urs defends title at Faldo Series India