Rhea Purvi jumps into lead at Mysore leg of Hero WPG Tour

Already a winner this year, Rhea Purvi Saravanan shot the only under-par round at the Hero WPGT’s seventh leg for the day two lead in Mysore. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji

Kolar golfer Rhea Purvi Saravanan returned the first sub-par round at the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club in Mysore for the sole lead of the Hero WPGT seventh keg ob Friday.

Rhea, who won her maiden professional title earlier this season, shot a 2 under par 68 after an opening 72 to be level par 140 after two days, the WGAI said.

Starting the day a shot behind the three-way tie for the lead, Rhea, 22, picked up birdies on holes five and seven and a third on 15, but dropped a stroke on eight.

Amandeep Drall with three birdies and four bogeys added a second straight 1 over 71 for sole second place on 2 over 142.

Looking for a fourth straight win this season, merit list leader Vani Kapoor was one shot behind fellow overnight leader Amandeep. 

Tightly bunched

Vani, Amandeep and Vidhatri Urs all had 71a on the first day, but the first named fell back with a 72 for a total of 143, three behind the leader.

The DLF golfer was 3-over after the first five holes but did well to pick one birdie and parred the rest for her 72.

With the top three separated by just three shots, the battle for top honours in the Rs.14 lakh event promises to be intense.

Ridhima Dilawari, starting from the fifth tee, was the big mover on a day a shotgun start was implemented, returning a level par 70 after a first round 76 to share fourth place with Jasmine Shekar (73-73). 

Ridhima had a birdie on the par-3 15th and bogey on the par-5 18th on Friday.

The cut fell at 156 and 19 players made the final round. Notable names to miss out included Seher Atwal, Rhea Jha and Disha Kavery.

Scores and round 3 tee times

7:30 am: Oviya Reddi 156, Agrima Manral 156

7:40 am: Shweta Mansingh 155, Yaalisai Verma 155

7:50 am: Durga Nittur 154, Jahaanvie Walia 154, Gauri Karhade 154

8 am: Ananya Garg 152, Lavanya Jadon 151, Karishma Govind 150

8:15 am: Astha Madan 150, Neha Tripathi 149, Khushi Khanijau 148

8:25 am: Vidhatri Urs 147, Jasmine Shekar 146, Ridhima Dilawari 146

8:35 am: Vani Kapoor 143, Amandeep Drall 142, Rhea Purvi Saravanan 140

 Also read: Vani in three-way tie for lead in Mysore leg of Hero WPGT