Diksha, Pranavi in shared 17th place on rainy first day in Seoul

Co-leader Patricia Schmidt of Germany takes shelter on the rainy first day of the $2 million Aramco Korea Championship in Seoul on Friday. Image courtesy let.com.

By Rahul Banerji

Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs led the way for the four-strong Indian contingent on the first day of the rain-hit Aramco Korea Championship in Seoul on Friday. 

At 1 over par 73 each, Diksha and Pranavi were in a tie for 17^th place, four shots behind event co-leaders Perrine Delacour of France and Germany’s Patricia Schmidt.

Level par after 17 holes Diksha was inside the top 10 till she came to the ninth hole, her final one of the day which she bogeyed to drop down the order, the WGAI said.

Pranavi had one birdie against two bogeys in her 73 while Tvesa Malik (79) and Avani Prashanth (79) were both in shared 86^th place and needing good second rounds to make the cut.

The rain proved a tough test for the 104-strong Ladies European Tour field at the $2 million individual and team tournament.

Only six players went under par on Friday with Delacour and Schmidt leading on 3 under 69s. The former, a recent winner at the Investec SA Women’s Open, also led the team event with her side on 13-under par.

Steady run

Diksha swapped two birdies for as many bogeys to turn in even par. On the second nine, she bogeyed the first but got the shot back with a birdie on the fifth. A dropped shot on the last hole saw her go over par.

Pranavi opened with a birdie on the tenth and then had bogeys on holes 15 and six.

Starting in the day’s first group, Delacour, alongside Maha Haddioui, Eleanor Givens and Polly Mack, set the benchmark as they teamed up for 14 birdies to post a combined score of 13 under par to lead Sara Kouskova’s team by a shot.

Paris Olympian Delacour, led from the front with five birdies and dropping just two shots at New Korea Country Club for a round of 69.

Joining her at the top of the individual leaderboard was Schmidt, winner of the 2023 Belgian Ladies Open, who also made five birdies, dropping her only shots of the day at the par-4 1st and par-3 11th.

In the team competition Team Dagar were T6, while Team Urs, who also had Avani in the squad were T12. Tvesa Malik, a member of Pia Babnik’s team, was further down the order.

Three players share third spot on 2 under 69 including South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea and defending champion Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea.

Also read: Diksha heads Indian contingent in Korea as LET season resumes