Singh extends lead to four shots in Final Qualifying Stage

By Rahul Banerji

Gurgaon’s Priyanshu Singh extended his lead to four shots in round three of the PGTI’s Final Qualifying Stage for the 2019 season at the Kensville Golf & Country Club near Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old (72-70-70), overnight leader by three shots, built on his lead with a second successive round of two-under-70 for a total of four-under-212. Delhi’s Wasim Khan (74-71-71), last year’s PGTI Qualifying School champion, was second at level-par-216.

Singh came up with a flawless round and his two birdies came from long conversions. The professional from the DLF Golf & Country Club, the only player in the field to have not gone over -par  till now, also made two brilliant par saves with recoveries from the trees and hazard respectively.

‘Clean off the tees’

Singh, who won Pre Qualifying II last week, said, “I struck the ball much better today as I hit some decent low shots off the tee. However, my putting was not as good as the previous rounds. I missed some short putts.

“But the two par-saves kept the momentum going for me. I’ll now look to sign off with another solid effort in the final round.”

Wasim improved marginally from his overnight tied second to sole second thanks to his 71 on Wednesday. Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane (72) was third at two-over-218.

At the end of round four on Thursday, the top 41 players will earn full cards for the 2019 PGTI season.

Diksha Dagar takes sole lead on pro debut

In Pune,Diksha Dagar launched her professional career with a one-under to top the leaderboard in the first leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2019 at the Poona Club Golf Course on Wednesday.

Diksha has previously won a Hero WPG Tour event, but that was as an amateur.

The widely experienced left-hander, had four birdies against three bogeys and led Millie Saroha (72) by two shots. Amateur Pranavi Urs carded a two-over 73 to be placed third.

Diksha opened with a par and a bogey. A maiden birdie as a pro followed along with a second b-gey and another birdie on her front nine. Two birdies and a dropped shot marked her inbound nine, and a sub-par card.

Millie Saroha bogeyed her last three holes to finish one-over par, while Pranavi, had a disappointing run in the middle of the round where she dropped three shots.

Neha Tripathi who opened with three birdies in the first four holes, but suffered a triple bogey was fourth while Khushi Khanijau, Siddhi Kapoor and debutant Anousha Tripathi were T-5 on 75.

Suchitra Ramesh (76) was eighth. Dolma Rawat, making her pro debut, and the experienced Amandeep Drall were T-9 with 77s.

Sifat Alag was disqualified in her first event, while Hita Prakash failed to make the cut after a round of 93.

Also read: Manav Bais wins Pre Quali III as 22 qualify for Final Stage