Nishna sole Indian survivor at Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific

From a Correspondent

Pattaya, Thailand, Nov 4: Nishna Patel was the only Indian to make the cut among the six players at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific golf at the Siam Country Club.

The 16-year-old Mumbai golfer added 1-under 71 on Friday to her first-round 72 to get to one-under 143 for two rounds.

Nishna was tied for 17^th as Avani Prashanth (74-76), Mannat Brar (75-77), Kriti Chowhan (73-84), Sifat Sagoo (77-80) and Ceerat Kang (79-86) all missed the cut that came at four over par.

It was a disappointing end for Avani who has had a fine season including 10 international starts and a tied 12th-place finish at the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

Defending champion Mizuki Hashimoto (66) now leads the field at nine-under par 135, unveiling a hot putter with a six-under 66 round that gave her sole lead at the halfway stage.

The 20-year-old from Miyagi showed her intent from the very first hole, with a 70-footer for birdie. She needed just 27 putts to go around and made seven birdies and a solitary bogey.

Famous alumni

Hashimoto is a second-year student at Tohoku Fukushi University, whose products include Hideki Matsuyama and Takumi Kanaya.

She is on 135, one ahead of Korea’s Jiyoo Lim. The 17-year-old added a second straight four-under-par 68 to her total.

Chinese Taipei’s Ting-Hsuan Huang (69) was alone in third place at six-under par 138, followed by a three-way tie for fourth place.

Nishna, who missed the cut last year at the same tournament in Abu Dhabi, had a good start with a par on the tenth that was followed by two birdies as she rose up the leaderboard.

Back-to-back bogeys on the tricky greens at the Waterside course of the Siam Country Club, however, pulled her back.

Strong mind

Nishna, who has her brother Ronav as her caddie and plays at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, showed great mental strength in hot and humid conditions.

She also showed she had learnt from the experience of the World Amateur Team Championship and the Women’s Amateur Championship.

After her bogeys, she had ten pars in a row, one birdie before finishing with another par on ninth.

World number three Saki Baba made just one birdie in her first 33 holes of the championship and then finished with three straight birdies in her last three holes to close with a two-under-par 70.

Malaysia’s Jeneath Wong made a hole-in-one when she eased a smooth pitching wedge tee shot into the cup on the 113-yard seventh hole.

Indian scores

T17 Nishna Patel (72-71)

MC: Avani Prashanth (74-76), Mannat Brar (75-77), Kriti Chowhan (73-84), Sifat Sagoo (77-80), Ceerat Kang (79-86)

Also read: Nishna best-placed Indian on day favourites struggle at WAAP