Pranavi Urs in a tie for sixth at weather-reduced La Sella Open

Pranavi Urs of India ponders a shot in the opening round of the La Sella Open in Alicante, Spain on Thursday and currently shares sixth place at the weather-affected tournament. Image courtesy LET..

By Rahul Banerji

Pranavi Urs was well-placed to bring in a top-10 finish at the weather-affected La Sella Open in Alicante, Spain, which will now be played over 54 holes.

In a statement the Ladies European Tour said heavy rain followed by thunder and lightning forced an early end to play on Saturday with some players still to complete their second rounds carried over from Friday.

Pranavi followed her opening 3 under par 69 on with a 1 under 71 to total 4 under 140 and shared sixth place behind clubhouse leader Charlotte Heath of England (68-65) who has a tournament total of 11 under 133.

The LET added, “Due to the weather today, the difficult decision has been made to reduce the tournament to 54 holes.

“Round three will be played on Sunday. Timings for the third and final round tomorrow will be published this evening.”

Avani Prashanth also made the 36-hole cut in a tie for 49th place on 2 over 146 (74-72), while Diksha Dagar, Vani Kapoor and Hitaashee Bakshi missed out.

Diksha maintains her place in the top 15 on the Order of Merit, currently 12th with 875.38 points from 19 starts.

Well-placed

Pranavi, who is 42nd with 448.53 points from 18 events will benefit from her performance at the La Sella Resort in Denia, while Avani is 55th with 363.15 points from her 16 starts.

At the top, Charlotte Heath held a four-shot clubhouse lead with a 7 under 65 before darkness brought a premature end to the second round on Friday.

Play was suspended due to fading light following an earlier delay of one hour and 40 minutes caused by dangerous weather conditions, the LET said.

While the morning was disrupted, players who teed off later enjoyed far calmer conditions in the afternoon sunshine. 

Heath produced one of the standout rounds of the week at La Sella Golf, reaching 9 under for the day after 12 holes and threatening the course record of 63 with a front nine of 6 under 30.

Hot run

The run included six birdies and another at hole 11 and an eagle at the par-five 12th though two late bogeys checked her momentum.

Australia’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard was second on 7 under 137 after a solid second-round 67 while England’s Alice Hewson shared third place with past event winner Helen Briem of Germany. 

Briem, who won at La Sella in 2024, had completed 14 holes of her second round was was 6 under-par when play was suspended.

Earlier, Pranavi returned a 3 under 69 to share ninth place after completing her first round on Friday morning. 

The Mysore golfer had been 2-under with two holes remaining when play was suspended on Thursday, but returned to finish strongly, picking up a birdie on one of her final two holes to move into the top 10.

Also read: Aditi, Pranavi in top 20 as Huang rewrites a LET record in London