By Rahul Banerji
Ojaswini Saraswat shot an impressive 68 to hold fourth place in the Girls 10 Category at the 2023 US Kids World Championships in Pinehurst on Friday.
The Mohali golfer’s 4-under card included an eagle and three birdies in a row from the seventh to the ninth holes. Overall, she had four birdies, the eagle against two bogeys.
Ojaswini (72-68), a medallist at the US Kids Golf World and European Championships, is three shots behind joint leaders Jessica Kim (69-68) and Iris Lee (67-70) of the US at Southern Pines Golf Club.
She was one of three Indians in the top five of various competitions besides Nihaal Cheema (tied fourth in the Boys 6) and Kabir Goyal (tied fifth in the Boys 8).
Nihaal, in a share of second overnight, slipped to tied fourth in the Boys Under 6, as he finished bogey-bogey for a 1-over 37 in the nine-hole round.
The Chandigarh golfer is now 1-under 71 (34-37) after two rounds and five shots behind Bradley Ferguson (33-33) at Midland Country Club.
Good finish
Kabir Goyal (Boys 8) had a birdie finish in his second nine-hole round, but his three earlier bogeys saw him finish at 2-over 38 and he slipped one place from tied fourth.
At 2-over 74 he is four shots behind leader American Stephen Sanders (35-35) at Mid Pines (Back).
For boys under the age of eight years and girls under nine competition is over nine holes where the layouts are age-specific in the only world event of its kind.
In the Girls 7 group, Vedika Bhansali (36-37) was tied-10th, while teammate Ahana Shah (38-41) was T18 at Midland Country Club.
Among other Indian boys, Sahib Aujla (43-47) in the Boys 8 was T76 at Midland Country Club and in the Boys 10 Adit Veeramachaneni (78-72) improved to T45 at Legacy Golf Links.
In the Boys 11, Chaitanya Pandey (74-75) was T36 at Talamore Golf Club.
In the Girls 11, Naina Kapoor (81-80) was T39 at Pinehurst 6 while in the Girls 12, Shambhavi Chaturvedi (74-75) was T22 and Ananyaa Sood (74-74) T31 at Pinehurst 5.
Medal haul
Last week, Mahreen Bhatia (runner-up in the Girls 14), Kartik Singh (T3, Boys 13) and Lavanya Gupta (T3, Girls 15-18) scored podium finishes at the World Teen Championships for Boys and Girls also at Pinehurst.
The US Kids Golf World Championship is recognised as a ranked event for the Junior Golf Scoreboard and the American Junior Golf Association besides allowing the players to gain World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
Top players emerging from US Kids include world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time major winners Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, and Indian-American star Sahith Theegala.
Women stars from US Kids include Lexi Thompson and US Open champion Allisen Corpuz, who is a three-time winner and twice a runner-up at US Kids.
Aditi Ashok and two-time national champion Avani Prashanth have also played with distinction at US Kids events.
Also read: Nihal Cheema shares second place at US Kids Golf World C’ships
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