Talented teenaged amateur Ojaswini Saraswat shared the day one lead in the Jaipur leg of the Hero WPGT event at Rambagh Golf Club on Thursday. Image courtesy HWIO.
By Rahul Banerji
Ojaswini Saraswat, who became the second youngest ever to make the cut on the Ladies European Tour, and the youngest Indian at the Hero Women’s Indian Open is back in the news.
The 13-year-old amateur, who played alongside Vani Kapoor in the first round, landed a late eagle on way to a 1 over par 71 for a share of the lead with Ananya Datar at the Par-70 Rambagh Golf Club.
Ojaswini, a multiple IGU winner, took full advantage of familiarity with her home course, the WGAI said.
On a day of when no one in the field broke par, Durga Nittur and Khushi Khanijau were two shots behind at 3 over 73 in third place, while there was a big bunch in shared fifth place.
Khushi also hails from Jaipur and hence is familiar with the Rambagh course.
Order of Merit leader, Ridhima Dilawari, Neha Tripathi, Shweta Mansingh, Jahnavi Prakhya and the Jadon sisters Lavanya and Riya were in a seven-way tie for fifth at 4 over 74.
Tournament favourite and HWIO runner-up last month, Vani Kapoor was T12 alongside Shagun Narain at 5 over 75.
Amandeep Drall, Tvesa Malik, Seher Atwal and Sneha Sharan were tied for 14th at 6 over 76.
Steady run
Ojaswini, a former medallist at the US Kids World Championship and the US Kids European Championship, started with six pars before back-to-back bogeys set her back to 2 over for the front nine.
A third bogey on 10 meant she was 3 over but six more pars later, she eagled the Par-5 17th, getting to 1 over before closing with par.
Ananya, a winner in 2020 after finishing second behind the then amateur Pranavi Urs, is now seeking to become an outright winner for the first time.
She has contended many times and on the first day when birdies were difficult to come by, she had four, three of them on the back nine.
Overall, she had four birdies against five bogeys, three of them on the front nine and two on the last two holes.
Ridhima has won four times this season and has a big lead on the Merit list with only two events, including the current one in Jaipur, remaining this season.
Vani, with two wins and three runner-up finishes, is second.
Day one co-leader Ananya Datar had a roller-coaster round at Rambagh on Thursday. Image courtesy WGAI.
Scores and round 2 tee times
Tee 1
8 am: Smriti Bhargav 78, Eti Chaudhary 78
8:10 am: Shrestha Shukla 78, Anaggha Venkatesh 77
8:20 am: Mannat Brar 77, Sneha Sharan 76, Seher Atwal 76
8:30 am: Tvesa Malik 76, Amandeep Drall 76. Shagun Narain 75
8:40 am: Vani Kapoor 75, Lavanya Jadon 74, Ridhima Dilawari 74
8:55 am: Jahnavi Prakhya 74, Jasmine Shekar 74, Shweta Mansingh 74
9:05 am: Riya Jadon 74, Neha Tripathi 74, Khushi Khanijau 73
9:15 am: Durga Nittur 73, Ojaswini Saraswat (A) 71, Ananya Datar 71
Tee 10
8 am: Ravjot Dosanjh 78, Snigdha Goswami 78, Janneya Dasanniee 79
8:10 am: Sneha Singh 79, Yaalisai Verma 79, Geetika Ahuja 80
8:20 am: Rhea Jha 82, Jahaanvie Walia 82, Ketaki Sood 83
8:30 am: Agrima Manral 83, Jasmandeep Kaur 84, Esther Lobo 84
Also read: Rousing start by home challengers at Hero Women’s Indian Open
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