Avani fires rare albatross enroute to second at German Masters

By Rahul Banerji

A remarkable albatross, or double-eagle, by two-time national champion Avani Prashanth and six birdies saw her hold second place after day one of the Amudi German Masters on Thursday.

Avani, who teed off in the opening group of the 300,000 euro event, dropped two shots on either side of the turn to total 7 under 65, one shot behind clubhouse leader Olivia Mehaffey.

The Bangalore amateur is one of five Indian women in the field at the Golf and Country Club Seddiner See.

Diksha Dagar too was in the top 10 as the next best-placed Indian on the leaderboard with a 3 under 69 after the opening 18 holes while Vani Kapoor was tied 49^th with a 1 over 73.

Ridhima Dilawari was T84 on a 75 while Women’s Indian Open joint runner-up Amandeep Drall was 5 over for the day.

Avani dropped a shot midway through her opening nine holes but recovered with two birdies before making the turn. Her round picked up pace with a birdie on before she nailed the albatross on the 464-yard par-5 13^th.

Rare feat

It was the Queen Sirikit Cup winner’s first double-eagle in international competition.

Another birdie meant the teenager had picked up five shots in three holes and she would add one more before a closing bogey on 18.

Diksha’s round was less dramatic, the left-hander swapping two birdies for one bogey before the turn and then picking up a further three shots against a second and final bogey on the card.

Diksha has come into the event with some form behind her, recording two top-10 finishes from her last three Ladies European Tour starts, at the Belgian Open followed by the Helsingborg Open.

The Olympian currently stands 42^nd in the Race to Costa Del Sol order of merit that is led by Aditi Ashok, who is having her best season in seven years on the LPGA Tour.

On Thursday, Avani opened with Dolnapa Zukphokivanich and April Angurarasaranee of Thailand, while Diksha lined up alongside Japan’s Yuri Onishi and Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir of Iceland.

Amandeep is alongside Linda Wessberg of Sweden and Anne Lise Caudal of France for the opening two rounds while Vani is playing with Isabella Deilert of Sweden and Julie Boysen Hillestad of Norway.

Ridhima is paired with England’s Florentyna Parker and Alexandra Swayne for the first 36 holes.

The top 60 and ties from the field of 126 go into the final round.

Also read: Aditi, Diksha finish well at LPGA, LET events respectively