Avani Prashanth opens 10-shot lead on day two in Chandigarh

By Rahul Banerji

National women’s amateur champion Avani Prashanth continued to put space between herself and the field at the Chandigarh Golf Club with a six-under-par 66 on the day.

The Bangalore teenager’s second successive round in the 60s (68-66) helped open up one of the largest 36-hole leads in the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the 15^th leg of the season.

Avani is now 10-under for two rounds and 10 shots ahead of the second-placed Gaurika Bishnoi (74-70).

A further four shots behind Gaurika are last week’s winner, Ridhima Dilawari (73-75) and Lakhmehar Pardesi (73-75), tied for third.

Sneha Singh (72) had the day’s only other round of par or better after Avani and Gaurika and moved to fifth overall.

Hitaashee Bakshi (74-76) and amateur Heena Kang (73-77) were tied for sixth as 22 in the field made the cut.

The talk of the day was the 16-year-old Avani, who had eight birdies and an eagle against a double bogey and two bogeys.

Flying start

She had an eagle on the par-5 second and then added four birdies to make the turn in an electric six-under 30.

Four more came on the back nine and though Avani was to drop two shots and a double thereafter, she also had back-to-back birdies in between and one more to close out the round.

Though Avani has not topped the field yet in 2022, she did win twice in 2021, at the BPGC, where she had two cards of 67 and then in the 11^th leg at Panchkula, she shot 66 in the second round.

Last year she was also runner-up to Amandeep Drall in Chandigarh.

Khushi Khanijau (77-75) and amateur Jia Kataria (73-79) were tied for eighth on eight-over 152, while Shweta Mansingh, Jyotsana Singh and Siddhi Kapoor shared tenth place on nine-over 153.

Scores and round 3 tee times

8:30 am: Rhea Purvi S. 159, Asmitha Sathish 159

8:40 am: Ragini Navet (A) 159, Karishma Govind 159

8:50 am: Neha Tripathi 158, Seher Atwal 156, Anisha Agarwalla 155

9 am: Saaniya Sharma 155, Rhea Jha 155, Afshan Fatima 154

9:10 am: Siddhi Kapoor 153, Jyotsana Singh 153, Shweta Mansingh 153

9:25 am: Jia Kataria (A) 152, Khushi Khanijau 152, Heena Kang (A) 150

9:35 am: Hitaashee Bakshi 150, Sneha Singh 149, Lakhmehar Pardesi 148

9:45 am: Ridhima Dilawari 148, Gaurika Bishnoi 144, Avani Prashanth (A)134

Also read: Avani returns to WPGT circuit with five-shot lead at Chandigarh