Drall leads Indian charge into weekend rounds at HWIO 2019

By Rahul Banerji

Amandeep Drall and Diksha Dagar returned contrasting cards of 2-under par 70 and 1-over 73 but both will feel they are in with a chance as the $500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open advanced into the weekend rounds at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Friday.

Drall is the best-positioned of the home players four shots behind leader-board topper Whitney Hillier of Australia, while Dagar made a dramatic recovery on her last home to stay in the hunt, even as 10 Indians in all made it through to the final two days from 22 entrants to start with.

Overnight joint leader Hillier maintained a one-shot advantage on a day changed pin positions made it harder to go low on day twp. It was reflected in the fact that Hillier was able to add only one shot to her 5-under of the first day.

She is 6-under 136 overall (67, 71) while Thursday’s co-leader Meghan MacLaren dropped back to shared third place alongside Linda Wessberg of Sweden on 2-under 140s.

Norway’s Marianna Skarpnord on 5-under 139 was second, adding a 71 to her first day card of 4-under 68.

Birdie run

Amandeep converted birdie opportunities in her closing three holes to climb up the standings on 2-under par 142 (72, 70) while Charlotte Thompson of England had the day’s best card of 5-under 67 and a share of fifth place overall on 3-under 141.

Missing out were some big names, including defending champion Becky Morgan of Wales and pre-tournament favourite Carly Booth of Scotland, both of whom finished on 13-over par 152. 

For Booth in particular, it extended a poor run at the Hero Women’s Indian Open as it was her eighth missed cut in a row while Morgan had rounds of 5-over 77 and 8-over 150 to complete a forgettable visit to India this time.

Solid improvement

Two shots behind Amandeep (72, 70) on level par 144s were Tvesa Malik and Vani Kapoor in tie d15th place. While the former matched her first-day performance with a second level par card that had two birdies against as many bogeys, Vani’s second round of 2-under 70 was a solid improvement on her 2-over of the opening day.

Diksha Dagar saved an improbably par on the 18^th, her approach shot over water finding the cup. It would have been an eagle but she had hit her first attempt into the lake. She is 1-over 145 (72, 73) and will be relieved to survive a roller-coaster ride that saw her drop four shots on the very first hole.

Three birdies before the turn helped the left-hander limit the damage with a 1-over 37 and she thereafter balanced birdies and bogeys for a 1-over card of 73 on the day. Domestic Tour Order of Merit leader Gaurika Bishnoi is two shots behind Diksha in tied 32nd place on 3-over 147 (73, 74).

Fast-rising amateur Anika Varma and Astha Madan were in shared 37^th place on 4-over 148, the former recovering well from her first day’s 4-over par 76 with a level par round on Friday and Astha adding a 75 to her 73 of the first day.

Amateurs shine

Amateurs Jahnavi Bakshi and Pranavi Urs, the best placed Indian after day one, were T51st on 6-over 150s and Seher Atwal just made the grade at 7-over 151 as the cut line kept dropping thanks to the absence of high scores on the day.

Neha Tripathi was desperately unlucky to miss out, reaching the par-5 18^th hole on the cut line but her putting proved costly as she could only manage a double-bogey 7, and a 9-over total.

Said Hillier on her day’s progress, “I was very calm all day. I stayed in the present and just tried to hit the best shot I could. It was actually very challenging with the wind so I had to judge that quite a lot. I hit a couple of really good shots but got punished. Had some really good putts coming in, though.

“I’m just going to stay patient, be happy, keep smiling, enjoy the golf course and see how it goes. Lots of holes to go!”

Added Skarpnord, “I had an early tee time today and I was pretty sure I was awake, but obviously I was not. Had a little 7 (3-over) there on the 11th hole, which was not a great start to the round.

“But I did my best to just forget about it. I said to myself on the next tee to forget about what had just happened. If you are going to go on thinking about it for the next 16 holes, you might as well just go home.

“So I felt that I did that pretty well. At times I played great golf today and other times it was not that good. But overall, with that start, I am happy with 1-under today.”

The cut fell at 7pver par 151 with the top 56 and ties making it into the money rounds over Saturday and Sunday.

Also read: Hyderabad teen out to make most of maiden Hero Women’s Indian Open