Gaurika, Rhea share first-round lead at DLF leg of Hero WPGT

By Rahul Banerji

Sixth leg winner Gaurika Bishnoi and Rhea Jha shared the opening day lead at the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour seventh leg on Tuesday.

Played at the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gaurika (24) is in line for a second successive win while Rhea (20) is still searching for her breakthrough professional title.

The two shot one-under par 71s, recording the only sub-par scores on the day while home player Vani Kapoor returned a level par 72.

Ridhima Dilawari, coming off a fruitful run on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in South Africa, and amateur Vidhatri Urs, who is part of the Indian national amateur team, were tied for fourth place on 73.

The resurgent Tvesa Malik and Amandeep Drall were tied for sixth with rounds of 74 each.

The challenging Gary Player design layout saw every player in the top 10 barring Vidhatri, card at least one double bogey or worse on the day. Vidhatri had three birdies and four bogeys.

Rhea, who plays most of her golf in Gurgaon and trains under Deepinder Khullar at the DLF Golf and Country Club, seemed at home with two birdies in the first four holes.

Punishing run

A double bogey on the demanding ninth meant she was back to par. On the back nine she birdied twice but dropped a shot in between for her 71.

Gaurika opened birdie-birdie but then slipped with a bogey and a double. Turning in one-over 37, she picked up three shots but a late bogey saw her end the day also on a 71.

Vani Kapoor also had two birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine, but she suffered a triple bogey and two bogeys for a 72.

Amandeep Drall, who came close to a maiden Ladies European Tour title at the Women’s Indian Open last year, had two birdies, one bogey and one double bogey in her 74.

Tvesa Malik, who lost a playoff on the third extra hole last week to Gaurika, had two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey in her card of 74.

Agrima Manral and Asmitha Sathish were tied for eighth on 75, while Seher Atwal and Rhea Purvi Saravanan were T10 on 76.

Scores and round 2 tee times

7:30 am: Geetika Ahuja 94, Khushi 92

7:40 am: Anaggha Venkatesh 92, Lavanya Gupta (A) 88

7:50 am: Anisha Agarwalla 87, Saaniya Sharma 84, Shagun Narain 84

8 am: Hitaashee Bakshi 83, Jyotsana Singh 83, Rishika Muralidhar (A) 83

8:10 am: Sneha Singh 83, Suchitra Ramesh 82, Neha Tripathi 82

8:25 am: Durga Nittur 82, Khushi Khanijau 82, Jasmine Shekar 81

8:35 am: Lakhmehar Pardesi 81, Anvvi Dahhiya (A) 80, Shweta Mansingh 80

8:45 am: Ishvari Prasanna 79, Keerthana Rajeev (A) 79, Ananya Datar 79

8:55 am: Lavanya Jadon (A) 78, Oviya Reddi 77, Kriti Chowhan 77

9:10 am: Riya Yadav 77, Rhea Purvi Saravanan 76, Seher Atwal 76

9:20 am: Asmitha Sathish 75, Agrima Manral 75, Amandeep Drall 74

9:30 am: Tvesa Malik 74, Vidhatri Urs (A) 73, Ridhima Dilawari 73

9:40 am: Vani Kapoor 72, Gaurika Bishnoi 71, Rhea Jha 71

Also read: Record entries, purse for Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour DLF leg