Another Hyderabad amateur shakes up pro ranks at Boulder Hills

By Rahul Banerji

There is something in the air and water in Hyderabad that makes their women go so well in sports. At a quick count, there’s the Begum of Indian tennis, Sania Mirza. Saina Nehwal and P.V Sindhu are the reigning queens of Indian badminton. Mithali Raj is the superstar of Indian women’s cricket.

Little surprise therefore to see yet another Hyderabad girl take centre-stage on day one of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Boulder Hills course on Wednesday.

Last week, 15-year-old Hyderabad amateur Sneha Singh stole a march over her experienced professional rivals to win the 11^th leg of the Tour at the Hyderabad Golf Club. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Shreya Pal — also an amateur — to turn the spotlight on herself.

Hot streak

The not-yet 17-year-old sank three birdies over the last five holes for a 5-under par 67 for the first round lead riding on her fifth place finish behind Sneha last week. In all, Shreya had six birdies against one dropped shot on her card.

Shreya sits three shots ahead of Ananya Datar, who is also looking for her first win on the Tour. Ananya had a birdie-birdie finish for a card of 2-under 70, while Gauri Karhade birdied the 18th hole for a round of 71 to be third.

Gaurika Bishnoi and Sneha were tied fourth with rounds of level par 72 in the Rs 7 lakh event.

Ishvari Prasanna was sixth with 73, while Siddhi Kapoor, Amandeep Drall and Afshan Fatima shot 74s to be tied seventh. Neha Tripathi (75) completed the top 10.

Solid form

According to the Women’s Golf Association of India, Shreya, who turns 17 next week, has been in good nick of late. She had a runner-up finish at the TrueVisions International Junior event in Thailand after tying with Malaysian Liyana Durisic.

Last month she was the best Indian at tied 13th in the Future Golf Champions event in the US, with scores of 72-73-73. She has top 10 finishes in four events on the IGU Tour earlier this year and six top-10s overall this year.

Ananya was bogey free at 1-under for 11 holes before she dropped two shots against three birdies. 

Sneha was once again prolific with six birdies but she also gave away six shots in all, including a double bogey.

Tee times for Round 2

8:30 am: Suchitra Ramesh 84, Oviya Reddi 84

8:40 am: Jyotsana Singh 82, Ridhima Dilawari 81

8:50 am: Anisha Agarwalla 79, Gursimar Badwal 79, Anousha Tripathi 79

9 am: Gurjot Badwal 77, Khushi Khanijau 77, Neha Tripathi 75

9:10 am: Afshan Fatima 74, Amandeep Drall 74, Siddhi Kapoor 74

9:20 am: Ishvari Prasanna 73, Sneha Singh (A) 72, Gaurika Bishnoi 72

9:30 am: Gauri Karhade 71, Ananya Datar 70, Shreya Pal (A) 67

Also read: Young amateur Sneha leads in Hyderabad Hero WGPT leg