Hitaashee blitzes DLF course for day one Hero WPGT lead

By Rahul Banerji

Hitaashee Bakshi fired a sensational front nine on the DLF course for an 8-under 64 on the first day of the sixth leg of the 2024 Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Tuesday.

Order of Merit leader Hitaashee opened with two pars, and then landed two eagles and four birdies in the next seven holes for a front nine of 8-under 28, the WGAI said.

Playing on her home course, Hitaashee then swapped birdie for bogey – her only blemish on the day – to equal the ladies’ course record.

Hitaashee, who in her five previous starts has won once and been second or tied second thrice, was eight shots clear of fellow DLF golfer Vani Kapoor and last week’s winner, Amandeep Drall.

Gaurika Bishnoi, runner-up in the fifth leg, was fourth with a 73, while the Queen Sirikit bound amateur Zara Anand shot a 74 that put her in fifth place.

Eagle run

Hitaashee, who after recovering from injury topped the Thailand LPGA Q-School, eagled the par-5 fourth and again on the par-4 sixth, where she holed her second shot.

Birdies came on the third, fifth, eighth and ninth holes. On the back nine, she birdied 13^, and her lone bogey came on the challenging hole 17.

Vani had four birdies and four bogeys in her first 13 holes and parred the rest, while Amandeep parred the first 11 holes and then swapped birdie for bogey while Gaurika had three birdies against four dropped shots.

Zara Anand had a rough start and was 3-over after the first six holes, but three birdies and a bogey in five holes steadied her round. She would add two more bogeys against one final birdie.

Astha Madan (75) was sixth, while Ananya Datar, Karishma Govind, Jasmine Shekar, Jahaanvie Walia and Queen Sirikit-bound amateur Vidhatri Urs were tied seventh on 76.

Amateur Heena Kang, also headed for the Queen Sirikit with Zara and Vidhatri, shot 77 to be T-12.

Scores and round 2 tee times

7:30 am: Geetika Ahuja 87, Anisha Agarwalla 86, Durga Nittur 85

7:40 am: Oviya Reddi 83, Trimann Saluja 83, Sneha Singh 83

7:50 am: Vrinda Yadav 83, Alysha Dutt (A) 82, Rhea Jha 82

8 am: Agrima Manral 81, Neha Tripathi 80, Khushi Khanijau 80

8:15 am: Hunar Brar (A) 80, Riya Yadav 80, Janneya Dasanniee (A) 80

8:25 am: Lavanya Gupta (A) 79, Yaalisai Verma 79, Shweta Mansingh 79

8:35 am: Rhea Purvi S. 79, Shagun Narain 78, Sachika Singh 78

8:45 am: Snigdha Goswami 77, Seher Atwal 77, Heena Kang (A) 77

9 am: Ananya Garg 77, Jahaanvie Walia 76, Jasmine Shekar 76

9:10 am: Karishma Govind 76, Vidhatri Urs (A) 76, Ananya Datar 76

9:20 am: Astha Madan 75, Zara Anand (A) 74, Gaurika Bishnoi 73

9:30 am: Amandeep Drall 72, Vani Kapoor 72; Hitaashee Bakshi 64

Also read: Amandeep set to take on 46-strong field at DLF leg of Hero WPGT