Tvesa into top-5 as Diksha Dagar makes a return at Ladies Italian Open

By Rahul Banerji

Tvesa Malik carded a 6-under par 66 on day two of the Ladies Italian Open on Saturday to climb into the top five even as Diksha Dagar made the cut in her return to action.

The 25-year-old Malik followed an opening 2-over 74 with a card that featured nine birdies. It helped her gain nine places at the Golf Club Margara while Diksha made the cut in her first outing of the new LET season.

Tvesa on 4-under 140 overall sits three back of leader Lucie Malchirand of France who birdied her final hole to grab the outright lead at 7-under-par 137.

One up

The French amateur, also overnight joint leader with a 66 had a 71 to follow that kept her one shot clear of England’s Gabriella Cowley.

The 200,000-euro Italian Open is making a return to the Ladies European Tour schedule after seven years.

Tvesa, who moved to Dubai to ensure participation in the new LET season, had a bogey and a double against three birdies on her front nine.

Her Italian Open campaign though came to life on the way back with a sizzling six under total that included three birdies in a row between holes 14 and 16.

Diksha was in recovery mode from a back injury and missed the South African Open that she won two years ago. So far she has had rounds of 74 and 73 to total 3-over 147.

Tvesa was briefly in contention at Cape Town before worsening conditions on the lat two days saw her slip away from a possible top-10 finish.

The cut fell at 148 with 64 going through to the final round. Aashta Madan missed out on her first LET outing of the season.

Shubhankar on the move

On the men’s tour, Shubhankar Sharma made the most of Moving day to climb into the top-10 of the Made in HimmerLand in Denmark on Saturday.

Sharma returned a flawless 6-under 65 to build on earlier rounds of 1-under 70 and 2-under 69 to share tenth place ahead of Sunday’s final round at Farso.

Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger leads the way with a 14-under 199, one ahead of Sweden’s Alexander Bjork.

Sharma will want to be consistent on a more regular basis with qualification slots to The Open available over this and the next two events on the European Tour.

On Saturday, the 24-year-old had four birdies on the front nine and picked up a further two shots on the back stretch.

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