Three tied for Hero Women’s Indian Open lead as Tvesa flies the flag

By Rahul Banerji

Overnight leader Christine Wolf paid heavily for a quadruple bogey on the par-5 18^th hole to allow three others into the lead at the Hero Women’s Indian Open 2018 on Saturday.

Wolf trails Welshwoman Becky Morgan (68), Dane Nicole Broch Larsen (69) and Eleanor Givens (70) of England after dumping the ball in the water twice on her closing hole.

The leaders are at 4-under 212 with Wolf a shot behind.

Tvesa Malik continued to fly the flag for the home contingent. Though she is now on level-216 for three days, Tvesa is just four behind the leaders and well placed to benefit from the slightest error by those ahead.

Recovery

The 22-year-old shot a 73 on the day with a closing birdie. Tvesa was 1-under through 12 holes but a rocky patch threw her off somewhat before the late recovery.

She is now is a share of 11th place with seven others, including Isabelle Boineau, who had the week’s best card of 65, an improvement of 10 shots on her previous round.

Overnight leader by four, Wolf was all set to close the third day with another handy lead, before the quadruple bogey, hitting her second and fifth shots into the lake running down the left of the fairway.

Wolf shares fourth place with England’s Felicity Johnson (69) and French star youngster Manon Molle (71).

Up and down

Gaurika Bishnoi (72) had five birdies and five bogeys at the DLF Golf & Country Club to be 1-over for three rounds and tied 19th with Ridhima Dilawari (71).

Vani Kapoor and Astha Madan found some form with two-under par cards of 70 to rise to T31. A solid Sunday performance could see them progress further.

Tvesa, a professional for just over a year and a half has dominated the domestic circuit, saying completing her studies means she is now “free to play as much golf as I want”.

She was 1-under through 12 holes, but a double bogey and a bogey saw her slip badly.

Big relief

The closing birdie was a huge relief.

“It was nice to finish with a birdie and left me something to look forward to tomorrow. I need to get a few more and not have three-putts.

“This is a course where nothing is sure till the ball falls into the cup. Anything can happen and big numbers can crop up suddenly.

“We have already seen that over the last three days. One cannot miss on the wrong side, as I did on 13th and ended with a double.”

Also read: Former champ Caroline Hedwall returns for Hero Women’s Indian Open