Gaurika closes in on Amandeep at Golden Greens WPGT leg

By Rahul Banerji

Gaurika Bishnoi carded five birdies in the last eight holes to close in on Amandeep Drall after the second round of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour event at Golden Greens Golf Club on Wednesday.

Gaurika, who started the day six strokes behind Amandeep, made good ground as she scorched the back nine to add a 6-under 66 to her first 70 for an 8-under 136 total, the WGAI said.

The overnight leader, who landed a third eagle in two days, was 2-under 70 and on 10-under 134 still two ahead of Gaurika. Amandeep set a new ladies course record on the first day at the venue near Gurgaon.

Khushi Khanijau (72-71) was third on 1-under 143. Hitaashee Bakshi (72-73), Seher Atwal (74-73) and Neha Tripathi (74-74) held the fourth to sixth places.

Amandeep began the day well with birdies on the first and fifth holes to extend her lead as Gaurika bogeyed early before recovering quickly.

Safe mode

Amandeep double bogeyed hole six and dropped one more shot on seven. One further birdie and a third eagle in 36 holes followed before she parred the final seven holes.

As Amandeep parred, Gaurika was on fire with a run of gained shots between holes five and 18 as she played the back nine in 5-under 31 for a round of 66.

Khushi dropped two shots early and then had a third bogey on 17 but birdied four times in between for her 71, which was one of the only three sub-par rounds of the day.

Lavanya Jadon (73-76) was the top amateur alongside Rhea Purvi S. (76-63), Jahaanvie Walia (75-74), Ridhima Dilawari (74-75) and Shagun Narain (74-75) who were tied for seventh on 5-over 149.

Order of Merit leader Sneha Singh (75-76) was way behind in T13.

The cut fell at 12-over 156 and 27 players made it through to the final round.

Scores and final round tee times

8 am: Yaalisai Verma 156, Karishma Govind 156, Kriti Chowhan 155

8:10 am: Saaniya Sharma 155, Jasmine Shekar 155, Rhea Jha 154

8:20 am: Shweta Mansingh 154, Nayanika Sanga 154, Trimann Saluja 153

8:30 am: Astha Madan 152, Agrima Manral 152, Oviya Reddi 152

8:40 am: Sneha Singh 151, Prarthana Khanna (A)151, Snigdha Goswami 151

8:55 am: Ananya Garg 150, Lavanya Jadon (A) 149, Shagun Narain 149

9:05 am: Ridhima Dilawari 149, Jahaanvie Walia 149, Rhea Purvi S. 149

9:15 am: Neha Tripathi 148, Seher Atwal 147, Hitaashee Bakshi 145

9:25 am: Khushi Khanijau 143, Gaurika Bishnoi 136, Amandeep Drall 134

Also read: Eagle-happy Amandeep Drall grabs early lead at Golden Greens