File photo of Pranavi Urs who has had a solid rookie year on the Ladies European Tour and sits second at the season-ending event in Spain. Image courtesy WGAI.
By Rahul Banerji
Ladies European Tour rookie Pranavi Urs shot a bogey-free 6 under par 66 to share second place on day one of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España in Malaga on Friday.
Pranavi was one shot behind Noora Komulainen of Finland, who got off to a flying start with a round of 7 under 65 at the Real Club Guadalhorce Golf along with Helen Briem and Patricia Isabel Schmidt of Germany, and Spain’s Ana Peláez Trivino .
The Mysore-based Pranavi picked up four birdies in the front side and added two more on her way bac to the clubhouse on Friday.
Defending champion Aditi Ashok shot a 2 under 70 to be tied for 20th, while. Diksha Dagar (71) was T32 and Tvesa Malik (72) shared 41st place.
Aditi had five birdies against three bogeys in her round. Three of those birdies came on the front side of the course as she turned in 3-under.
A fourth birdie saw Aditi, who has retained her LPGA card for 2025 get to 4 under, but three dropped shots in the last eight holes saw her drop back despite another birdie on the penultimate hole.
Mixed rounds
Diksha had three birdies against two bogeys and Tvesa had two birdies and as many bogeys in her 72.
Former domestic Order of Merit winner Pranavi, said later: “I think I started off pretty good, I gave myself a lot of opportunities.
“It’s been three weeks since our last event, so I didn’t know what to expect heading into this week, but I’m glad to have shot a bogey-free six-under. I know the game is still there.
“I like this course. I really enjoy playing with Ana (Pelaez Trivino of Spain) and Annabel (Dimmock, of England), I think all of us played really good, and I think that kept me going and it was just about giving myself opportunities which I did.”
Komulainen started on the back nine and rolled in three early birdies in a row on holes 11, 12 and 13. The Finn dropped her only shot of the day on 16 and then made a phenomenal run on the front nine.
Back-to-back birdies immediately after the turn sparked the run before further birdies on holes four, six and nine gave Komulainen top spot on the leaderboard.
“It was a really solid day to be honest,” the Finn said on the LET website.“I think I hit almost all the fairways and my approaches were good. My putter was good, so that’s the secret today.
“It’s been a tough year, I really struggled this year. I had a really good three weeks at home. I worked on some things that I need to work on and I think that worked. I really enjoyed it today.”
Slovenia’s Pia Babnik and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda were tied for sixth place on 6 under 67 with six players a shot further back in T8.
Last year, Aditi (69-68-68-66) beat Ann Van Dam of the Netherlands by two shots at Real Club de Golf Las Brisas for her fifth LET title.
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