By Rahul Banerji
Aline Krauter took a further step towards ensuring the Hero Women’s Indian Open trophy would head for Germany for a second straight year by holding a two-shot lead over the field in Gurgaon on Saturday.
The Ladies European Tour rookie from Stuttgart has dropped just three shots over 54 holes in the $400,000 event at the DLF Golf and Country Club, one of which came on Saturday.
With cards of 69, 68 and 68 underlining her consistency, Krauter totals 11 under 205. Behind her, Sweden’s Sara Kjellker recovered from a double bogey-par-bogey start to pick up six bogies over the next nine holes to climb one place from her overnight third place to second.
An LET rookie herself, Kjellker also opened the day with a double-bogey but recovered with sight birdies against two further dropped shots to total 9 under 207 (73-66-68) and close in on Krauter.
Day one leader Madelene Stavnar of Norway recovered from a second-day 74 to fire a 3 under 69 on Saturday for third place on 7 under 209 (66-74-69), one ahead of India’s leading player on the LET, Diksha Dagar.
Rough starts
The left-hander had a rocky day but two closing birdies pushed her back up the leaderboard into fourth on 6 under 210 (67-72-71) while overnight second placed Vani Kapoor was a further stroke behind in shared fifth with England’s Hannah Burke on 4 under 212.
“I think my ball striking was good again today, same as the last couple of days,” Krauter, who opened with a birdie playing alongside Diksha and Vani, said later.
“Nothing has really changed, didn’t make that many putts, but it was still really, really steady which is good on this golf course. I’m really happy with my round.
“My birdie (on 15) was really important. It’s always important to bounce back after a bogey, it’s always a good feeling. The bogey wasn’t terrible, it’s just a hard hole. I wasn’t really worried but then 15 was great.
“It’s different being at the top. I haven’t really been in this position this year at all. I think it will be a challenge tomorrow for sure. But I’m very excited for tomorrow and I’m glad I came to India!”
Added Kjellker, who has had three top five finishes since the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at the end of August, “It was an awful start. I was two over after three holes and it could have been three over after three holes.
Good distances
“I don’t know what happened there. Maybe it was some nerves and some pressure got to me. But then I managed to calm down and had some good yardages in which I took advantage of. I had lots of birdies today which was needed for sure.
“It was solid golf. Great wedges. Short putts. It was very fun. Madelene Stavnar (in third) is one of my closest friends on Tour and I feel we’re a great team out there helping each other on the golf course.
“She’s definitely my little comfort blanket and I love playing with her. I’m excited going into tomorrow. I’m just going to take it as a normal day. Anything can happen. Aline is playing well so I’m just going to have to hunt.”
The Norwegian was another to double-bogey hole 1 and made it a point to mention her start.
“Me and Sara were laughing about we both started with a double. It was probably the worst start you can have but then we both made a lot of birdies after that which was really nice.
“I think my mentality has improved a lot lately. I’ve been talking with a coach a lot about the mental side and I think that’s really helped me.
“I stayed patient out there. Obviously, it was a rough start so I tried to stay cool and stick to plan.”
Missed chances
For Diksha, Moving Day was one of missed opportunities. “Today, I could have definitely done better,” she said later.
“The greens were very fast today, probably two times faster than yesterday. And I wish I had played better today. I had lot of lip-outs and made some silly mistakes. So there was a lot of up and down in this round for me.
“I have to accept this, this is what golf is. I’m just going to enjoy myself tomorrow.”
Queen Sirikit Cup winner Avani Prashanth closed with a birdie to hold a share of seventh while Gaurika Bishnoi dropped to 12th with a 2 over 74.
Vidhatri Urs and Nishtha Madan were the other two Indians in the top 20, tied for 19th place on 1 over 217.
Also read: Vani, Diksha stay in top-3 as Aline Krauter takes over HWIO lead
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