Mannat is first round leader at Clover Greens leg of Hero WPGT

Pune amateur Mannat Brar set the early pace at the Clover Greens leg of the Hero WPGT on Wednesday. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji

Mannat Brar struck a purple patch midway through her opening round with four birdies in a row to take the first round lead at Clover Greens in Hosur on Wednesday.

The talented amateur shot a 2 under par 70, the only sub-par round of the day in the Rs 15 lakh 12^th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, the WGAI said.

Mannat, tied for eighth place last week at Prestige Golfshire, was followed by Kriti Chowhan, Jasmine Shekar and Ananya Garg on level par 72s.

The Pune teenager opened with a birdie and then dropped shots on holes four and sixth to go 1-over. 

Mannat then produced four birdies in a row and followed up to rack up  five consecutive pars before closing out with a bogey at the tricky Par-3 18^th.

Kriti, looking for her maiden win on the Hero WPG Tour, birdied holes two and three, but gave them back before the turn. She parred her last 10 holes for her 72.

Jasmine, a multiple winner on the Tour, had an early birdie on the fifth hole, and then three in a row from the 11th to the 13th. 

She bogeyed the eighth, ninth, 14^th and the 16^th for her par score.

Uop and down

Ananya, also in the hunt for her first pro title, had three birdies against three bogeys.

Amateur Aaradhya Shetty and Rhea Jha carded 1 over 73s to share fifth place.

Last week’s runner-up amateur Lavanya Gupta, who is due to attend college in the US, was tied for seventh amateur Diya C. Patil, Karishma Govind, Ravjot K. Dosanjh and Ananya Datar on 2 over 74. 

Lavanya made a good start with two early birdies but was unable to keep the momentum going. In all, she had three birdies against five bogeys.

Among those who struggled on the day were Ladies European Tour players Amandeep Drall (75) and Seher Atwal (75) at tied 12th, Sneha Singh (76) at 18th, Ridhima Dilawari (77) at T19 and Rhea Purvi Saravanan (79) at T23.

The 12^th leg is one of the last few events ahead of the Hero Women’s Indian Open in October. It will also decide who makes the grade for the LET event.

Scores and round 2 tee times

9 am: Oviya Reddi 86, Riddhima Singh (A) 85

9:10 am: Khushi 82, Vidhatri Urs 81

9:20 am: Chitrangada Singh 81, Yaalisai Verma 80, Agrima Manral 80

9:30 am: Yashita Raghav 80, Anaggha Venkatesh 79, Snigdha Goswami 79

9:40 am: Gourabi Bhowmick 79, Rhea Purvi 79, Gauri Karhade 78

9:55 am: Anahita Singh 78, Durga Nittur 77, Ridhima Dilawari 77

10:05 am: Sneha Singh 76, Amandeep Drall 75, Shrestha Shukla 75

10:15 am: Seher Atwal 75, Khushi Khanijau 75, Jahaanvie Walia 75

10:25 am: Anvitha Narender 75, Lavanya Gupta (A) 74, Ananya Datar 74

10:40 am: Ravjot K. Dosanjh 74, Diya C. Patil (A) 74, Karishma Govind 74

10:50 am: Aaradhya Shetty (A) 73, Rhea Jha 73, Ananya Garg 72

11 am: Jasmine Shekar 72, Kriti Chowhan 72, Mannat Brar (A) 70

Also read: Europe-returned Sneha, Amandeep set for Hero WPGT 12th leg