Jasmine leads by three at Golden Greens leg of Hero WPGT

Jasmine Shekar showed fine form in building an early at the Golden Greens leg of the Hero WPGT on Wednesday. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji

Jasmine Shekar tamed the Golden Greens Golf Club course with one of her best rounds in a short pro career as she took a three-shot lead after the first round on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old, who turned pro last year, fired seven birdies against a lone bogey for a round of 6 under par 6, three shots clear of Ridhima Dilawari (69), a multiple winner on the Tour, the WGAI said.

Hero Order of Merit leader Hitaashee Bakshi, Vidhatri Urs, winner of three of the last four events, and Gaurika Bishnoi, with one title this year, shot 1 under 71s to share third place in the 13^th leg of the Hero WPGT.

Jasmine, a runner-up in Kolkata last year at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club and again at Tollygunge this year, had teed off alongside Astha Madan and amateur Nandita Kumar.

Jasmine birdied thrice in a row early and added a fourth to turn in 4-under. On the back nine she picked up a further three shots against one bogey.

Ridhima had four birdies against one dropped shot with gains on the first, fifth, 11^th and 12^th holes and bogey on the par-4 tenth.

Shared spoils

Gaurika had four birdies against three bogeys while Hitaashee, who has been in good form this season, also had four birdies against three bogeys.

Vidhatri, whose seven starts as a pro on the Hero WPG Tour have fetched three wins and four third place finishes, had three birdies against two dropped shots.

Five players were tied for sixth place on a tight leaderboard.

They included 2022 Hero Women’s Indian Open runner-up Amandeep Drall, 2023 merit list topper Sneha Singh, Mumbai’s Gauri Karhade, amateur Anvvi Dahhiya and Khushi Khanijau on 1 over 73s.

Seher Atwal shot a 75 for T13, Shweta Mansingh (77) was T20 and Neha Tripathi (78) was T28.

A total of 41 players are playing in the Rs. 14-lakh event, the last one before the Hero Women’s Indian Open next month.

Scores and Round 2 tee times

Tee 1

7 am: Shweta Mansingh 77, Yashita Raghav 77

7:10 am: Anahita Singh 77, Ishvari Prasanna 77

7:20 am: Anvitha Narender 77, Astha Madan 77, Nayanika Sanga 76

7:30 am: Shagun Narain 76, Rhea Purvi Saravanan 76, Seher Atwal 75

7:40 am: Snigdha Goswami 75, Agrima Manral 75, Janneya Dasanniee (A) 75

7:55 am: Ananya Garg 74, Chitrangada Singh 74, Khushi Khanijau 73

8:05 am: Sneha Singh 73, Anvvi Dahhiya (A) 73, Amandeep Drall 72

8:15 am: Gauri Karhade 72, Vidhatri Urs 71, Hitaashee Bakshi 71

8:25 am: Gaurika Bishnoi 71, Ridhima Dilawari 69, Jasmine Shekar 66

Tee 10

7 am: Geetika Ahuja 77, Kriti Chowhan 77, Rhea Jha 78

7:10 am: Prarthana Khanna (A) 78, Neha Tripathi 78, Nandita Kumar (A) 79

7:20 am: Millie Saroha 79, Anaggha Venkatesh 80, Gourabi Bhowmick 81

7:30 am: Jahaanvie Walia 82, Yaalisai Verma 83, Alysha Dutt (A) 84

7:40 am: Karishma Govind 85, Ravjot K. Dosanjh 86, Sachika Singh 86

Also read: Hitaashee out to make amends as Vidhatri seeks a fourth win