DLF golfer Hitaashee Bakshi leads the Hero Women’s Indian Open field by three shots and will hope to end a nine-year wait for a home win after Aditi Ashok’s title in 2016. Image courtesy HWIO.
By Rahul Banerji
Overnight leader Hitaashee Bakshi hung tough on Moving Day at the Hero Women’s Indian Open to take a three-shot lead into Title Sunday at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon.
England’s Alice Hewson put in a late charge over the final eight holes to close in on the runaway leader as Hitaashee at one point topped the field by six shots.
After 54 holes, Hitaashee was on 9 under par 207 with cards of 70, 67 and 70 while Hewson (69, 72, 69) had a 6 under 210 to her name
With a day to go, five Indians were in the top 10, two of them in the top five with Pranavi Urs sole third on 4 under 212. The lead group on Sunday of Hitaashee, Alice Hewson and Pranavi will tee off at 11 am.
Teenagers Zara Anand (68-70-76) and Avani Prashanth (73-71-70), the former India’s top-ranked amateur and the latter in her rookie year on the Ladies European Tour. shared fourth place on 2 under 214.
They were alongside Australia’s Kelsey Bennet (72), Shannon Tan (73) of Singapore and Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson (74).
Strong challenge
DLF’s Vani Kapoor (67-74-74) who led after the first day was the fifth home challenger inside the top 10, sharing ninth place on 1 under 213 alongside Kajsa Arwefjall (70) of Sweden and Germany’s Verena Gimmy (77).
The last Indian win at the HWIO came nine years ago, on this very track when Aditi Ashok won the 2016 edition.
Past runner-up Amandeep Drall (74-70-72) was in tied 12th place with the remaining six Indians still in the field strung out further down the leaderboard.
Irishwoman Anna Foster had the day’s best card of 5 under 67 with pin positions largely tucked away in the corners to sit tied for 15th along with LET rankings leader Mimi Rhodes of England.
“It was exhausting in the back nine because the rough really did get to me,” Hitaashee said later.
“There was like a birdie-bogie, birdie-bogie pattern that started but I’m really glad that I followed it all through the end.
“Like I said I don’t really think that much. I’m just going one shot at a time tomorrow. It’s my home course, no pressure. So I’ll just go out and play.
Holding an edge
“I think that’s giving me more of an edge, a push. And since it’s my home club, my home crowd’s there so that’s much more better for me. But this is DLF, anything can happen.”
Added Hewson, on her being a regular visitor to India, “I really enjoy it here. The course kind of suits my eye quite well, there aren’t many courses that you go to in a year where you can turn around and say that.
“It puts such a high premium on fairways and greens, and when you do that, you seem to come away with a few birdies, which is nice.
“Today was really unusual for my game. I’m normally pretty steady throughout, so to have seven holes in a row without a par was really unusual.
“I did make a joke that the people doing the scoreboards must not have liked me for a period there, as they kept having to move my name up and down and changing the score back and forward.
“But kind of enjoying my time out there and staying as patient as I can, really.
“Tomorrow, I’m just going to go and kind of try and keep steady. And you just have to stay really calm and collected out there.
Demanding track
“Whether you make birdies or bogeys, you just kind of have to brush it off and carry on because this course is so demanding. So yeah, just nice and steady, hopefully.”
For Pranavi, who has had a good year on the LET barring a phase on the sidelines for injury, it was a grind on Saturday. “It was a bit of a struggle for me today,” she said later.
“I didn’t hit the ball well, or putt well. But I think with all that I was pretty calm out there and stayed patient. It felt like a lot more, but one-over was pretty good with the way I played.
“I think tomorrow’s going to be go big or go home. I’m going to try and go for it as much as I can.”
Also read: Hitaashee leads HWIO on day two with four Indians in top 10
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