Seher Atwal lines up another shot at maiden professional title

By Rahul Banerji

Seher Atwal entered the final round as leader for the second time in as many weeks, opening a two-shot lead on the field at the Poona Club Golf Course on Thursday.

After missing out in Mumbai, Seher carded a bogey-free 4-under 67 on day tw of the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour to close in on that elusive first win.

It followed her first round of level par 71. At 4-under 138 she leads Tvesa Malik (71-69) by two shots.

Overnight co-leaders Amandeep Drall (68-72) and Hitaashee Bakshi (68-72) slipped to shared third place. Vani Kapoor (71-70) was fifth.

The elder of the two Bakshi sisters, Jahanvi (70-72), was sixth.

With five players under par and one at level par, the top six are separated by just four shots, setting up chances of a royal battle on the final day.

A niece of Indian golf legend Arjun Atwal, Seher has been showing steady improvement in the season.

She was T6 in the first leg and T10 in the second. Last week she was fourth after leading by three shots on the final day, as amateur Avani Prashanth took the honours.

Seher, who played collegiate golf at Rollins in the United States, is thus in line again for her maiden win on the pro Tour.

The 22-year-old had one birdie on the front nine and parred the rest as she turned in one-under.

Making gains

A birdie on 10 followed by another on 14 saw her get to 3-under and she stayed focused to roll in another birdie on 18 and finish the day on 4-under.

Tvesa Malik had three birdies against one bogey, on the par-5 12^th, which she bogeyed on the first day too. She has now dropped three shots on Par-5s, two on the first day and one on the second.

Amandeep Drall seemed to be going well till she dropped three shots in four holes at the end for a 72. Hitaashee had two birdies against three bogeys in her 72.

Amateur Sneha Singh (72-71) is tied seventh alongside Ananya Datar (71-72), while Avani, had a level par 71 in the second round for T9 alongside Gauri Karhade (72-72).

Ridhima Dilawari (70-75) was T11, while Gaurika Bishnoi (75-72) and Diksha Dagar (71-76) were T12.

Scores and final round tee times

8 am: Anousha Tripathi 168; Marshneil Prasad 168; Mehar Atwal 163

8:10 am : Geetika Ahuja 160; Trimann Saluja 160; Durga Nittur 160

8:20 am : Astha Madan 159; Ishvari Prasanna 158; Rhea Jha 155

8:30 am : Nishna Patel (A) 155; Disha Kavery 155; Saaniya Sharma 155

8:45 am : Shriya Vivek 154; Puneet K. Bajwa (A) 154; Shweta Mansingh 154

8:55 am: Jyotsana Singh 152; Neha Tripathi 152; Khushi Hooda (A) 150

9:05 am: Rhea Purvi Saravanan 150; Nayanika Sanga (A) 149; Oviya Reddi 148

9:15 am: Diksha Dagar 147; Khushi Khanijau 147; Gaurika Bishnoi 147

9:30 am: Shagun Narain 147; Ridhima Dilawari 145; Gauri Karhade 144

9:40 am: Avani Prashanth (A) 144; Ananya Datar 143; Sneha Singh (A) 143

9:50 am: Jahanvi Bakshi 142; Vani Kapoor 141; Amandeep Drall 140

10 am: Hitaashee Bakshi 140; Tvesa Malik 140; Seher Atwal 138

Also read: Amandeep, Hitaashee share first day lead at Poona Club