Junior ace Anika gets going on Moving Day as Wolf grabs the lead

By Rahul Banerji

Showing steady improvement 15-year-old Anika Varma returned the day’s best card of 5-under par 67 along with leader Christine Wolf of Australia on day three of the $500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Saturday.

Annika has progressed steadily into the tournament and on Moving Day, she showed the most improvement to climb from tied 37^th place overnight all the way up to a share of ninth place on 1-under par 215, along with LET rookie Tvesa Malik.

Wolf, who opened with a par-plus round on Thursday has been on the move since then and on Saturday had a bogey-free 5-under to hold the sole lead on 8-under par 208 (73, 68, 67).

After a solid front nine in the course of which she picked up one shot, Christine had a further four shots on her way back to the clubhouse, including a couple of outstanding approach shots.

“I’ve been playing solid golf all three days, but just not hitting it as close to the pin as I would like to,” Christine said.” Overall, I’m really happy with my game so far but we still have a round to go and it’s quite close out there on the leader-board.

“The course is in great shape, the greens are rolling really well and I’m just enjoying it. I’ve been working hard these past three days so I’ll just stick with the game plan for tomorrow as well.”

Best-placed

Now based in the United States, Anika (76, 72, 67) was the best ranked Indian in the field at tied ninth along with three-time winner this year on the domestic tour, Tvesa (72, 72, 71), on 1-under par 215, seven shots behind Wolf.

Anika, till recently India’s top ranked junior and a qualifier to the US Girls Championship earlier in the year, hit six birdies and looked poised to bring in a bogey-free card till she dropped a shot on the par-4 17^th hole. That was her only blemish as the Round-of-32 finisher at the US Girls showed great composure during her round.

“I kept hitting t very good today,” Anika said later. “I didn’t need very long putts other than the eighth hole where I needed a little over 20 feet for the conversion. Most of my approach shots were within range so I could just go for most of the putts.

“Tomorrow, I’ll just try and keep an open mind, would just try do as well as I can and try and be happy on the course, that’s all, really.”

Key putts

Added Tvesa, “I left a few shots out there on the course but I made the putts when I needed them. Overall, I’m very happy with my first under-par round of the week and positive about tomorrow.”

DLF regular Vani Kapoor was tied 13^th on level par 216 (74, 70, 72) following a steady round in the course of which she swapped two bogeys for as many birdies, while Amandeep Drall and could not build on her momentum of Friday with a 3-over 75 that dropped her into a tie for 27^th place on 3-over 219.

Day one co-leader Meghan MacLaren was a shot behind the Austrian on 7-under 209, her 3-under 69 on the day helping recover from Friday’s card of 73 in the course of which she had dropped off the lead.

Said the lanky Englishwomen, “I am happy with today. It is sort of somewhere in between the first day and the second day.

“I had to grind at times and I also did some really good stuff. Hit some iron shots in there close. So, perfect mixture of frustration but pride as well. 

“A few really good players are contending right at the top. A couple of shots here and there is absolutely nothing on this golf course. So everyone’s going to be at full concentration for the entire round no matter what score they are at.”

Also read: Drall leads Indian charge into weekend rounds at HWIO 2019