Tvesa rides rough greens in steady SA Women’s Open start

By Rahul Banerji

Tvesa Malik made a steady start to the 2021 Ladies European Tour season with a level-par card in the opening round of the Investec South African Women’s Open in Cape Town on Thursday.

The 25-year-old was in a share of the lead on her back nine but two late dropped shots saw her drop into a tie for fifth place.

Tvesa’s 72 on Thursday had her two shots behind overnight leaders Lee Ann Pace of South Africa and Lydia Hall of Wales, both on 2-under 70s at the Westlake Golf Club.

With four spots at the US Women’s Open up for grabs, there is much at stake for the field at the tournament.

Two years ago, Diksha Dagar made her breakthrough win on the LET at this event in what was just her fourth professional start,

Ironically, the left-handed teenager edged out Pace on the final day in 2019 with a 3-under par 69.

After her win Dagar said: “I just went out today trying to play my normal game,” the LET website said.

“I really didn’t expect to win, but it happened and I am very happy. I got two lucky breaks towards the end, with a long birdie putt on 15 and then the chip-in on 16.

“Normally I would just try to chip it close and make the par putt, but this time I had a feeling I could do it and it went in.”

Staying ahead

LET Order of Merit winner 11 years ago, Pace joined Hall in the early lead, and they were not caught by the end of the opening day.

Johanna Gustavsson at one point had a fast start that saw her sink five birdies against one dropped shot in her outbound nine.

The Swede though suffered on her way back to the clubhouse with three bogeys and a double bogey that pegged her back to level-par 72 and a spot alongside Tvesa.

Tevsa also held a share of the lead alongside Pace and Hall before she dropped shots on the par-4 14^th and par-5 16^th holes to fall away on grainy greens that challenged even the best in the field.

Nine time LET winner Pace said later, “Trying to hit the fairways, and the greens are very important – they’re smaller so if you do hit the greens, you’re always going to have a nice putt for birdie.

“I’m breaking those big goals into small goals and I reached them today.”

South Africa’s Tandi McCallum had five birdies and four bogeys to join country-women Nicole Garcia in shared third, one shot back of the leaders.

Nine players were on 1-over 73s including defending Indian Open winner Christine Wolf of Austria.

Also read: Tvesa holds off Jahanvi to end 18-month long title drought