Late birdie burst gives Gaurika a handy cushion over Pranavi

By Rahul Banerji

Gaurika Bishnoi found a rich vein of form, sinking three straight birdies to close out her second round of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 13^th leg in Gurgaon on Wednesday.

The late burst gave Gaurika a meaty six-shot cushion over the chasing pack at the DLF Golf and Country Club going into the final day.

Gaurika, whose last win was in 2019, returned a three-under 69 for the only sub-par round of the day. And with nearest rival Pranavi Urs in the wars, an end to the winless run looks to be on the cards

Event favourite Pranavi had a hard time of it especially on the back nine that saw her concede two bogeys and a double bogey, to fall into a tie for second place with overnight leader Nayanika Sanga.

The last time Gaurika won at Clover Greens in Tamil Nadu in June 2019, Pranavi was still an amateur and finished second. 

Gaurika is now four-under 140 (71-69) to Pranavi’s 146 (71-75). For her part, Nayanika was unable to find a single birdie and followed her overnight 70 with a four-over 76 on Wednesday.

With scoring not easy, Sneha Singh (77-74) was fourth, Oviya Reddi (75-78) fifth and Seher Atwal (75-80) sixth.

Back in form

Gaurika has for quite some time not been able to string three strong rounds together but finally looks to be on her way to overcoming that.

She started with a bogey but two birdies thereafter meant she turned in one-under.

On the back nine, Gaurika dropped a shot early to fall back to level par but a hat-trick of birdies gave her a strong finish.

Pranavi had one bogey and one birdie on the front nine and then a second bogey hit her on the same hole Gaurika had dropped a shot.

However, on the last four holes, their fortunes were in stark contrast. Pranavi double bogeyed the par-5 15^th and had another bogey on 17 with a birdie in between.

Gaurika, meanwhile, birdied 16, 17 and 18.

Sneha Singh may well have been closer to the leader, but for a quadruple bogey on the ninth hole.

Apart from that blemish, Sneha had four birdies and two bogeys in her card of 74.

Ridhima Dilawari (78-79), Neha Tripathi (78-79), amateur Jasmine Shekar (78-79) and Khushi Khanijau (75-82) were tied for seventh place.

Scores and round 3 tee times

Tee 1

7:30 am: Snigdha Goswami (A) 158; Khushi Khanijau 157;

7:40 am: Jasmine Shekar (A) 157; Neha Tripathi 157; Ridhima Dilawari 157

7:50 am: Seher Atwal 155; Oviya Reddi 153; Sneha Singh 151

8 am: Nayanika Sanga 146; Pranavi Urs 146; Gaurika Bishnoi 140

Tee 10

7:40 am: Saaniya Sharma 158; Shweta Mansingh 159

7:50 am: Riya Yadav 160; Hitaashee Bakshi 160; Jyotsana Singh 160

8 am: Agrima Manral 160; Vidhatri Urs (A) 161; Millie Saroha 163

8:10 am: Rhea Purvi Saravanan 164; Ananya Datar 164; Rishika Muralidhar (A) 164

Also read: Rookie Nayanika Sanga leads by one in 13th leg of Hero WPGT