Perseverance pays at Jaypee Greens for joint leader Vani Kapoor

By Rahul Banerji

Vani Kapoor continued her climb back towards form and solidity with a patient 2-under par 70 and a share of the lead alongside Amandeep Drall at the Jaypee Greens on Thursday.

On day two of the ongoing Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour event, Vani reaped the benefits of patience to join overnight leader Amandeep on 2-under 142, two shots ahead of Gaurika Bishnoi, who has also been in a lean patch of late.

Vani has been trying to re-capture the form that made her a star on the domestic circuit, and showed signs of recovery with a second place finish in the fourth leg at the Bangalore Golf Club last month.

Good recovery

On Thursday, she had two bogeys, like in the first round but this time, she more than balanced that with four birdies, two on either side of the turn.

Amandeep had one birdie against three bogeys on the front nine and picked up a further shot on her way back for a 73.

Gaurika, who also showed good form on the day, shot a 71 with three birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the way back. She was level par 144 going into the final day.

Rough weather

Pranavi Urs looked set to recover from a poor first day as she was one-under after 11 holes. The winner of the second and third legs then ran into rough weather with four bogeys over her last six holes for a 3-over 75 and a total of 2-over 146.

Ridhima Dilawari (74) was sole fifth at 147, while Oviya Reddi (74) and Neha Tripathi (76) were tied sixth. 

Amateurs Asmitha Sathish (75) and Hunar Mittal (78), and Gursimar Badwal (77) were tied for eighth place on at 151s.

Round 3 tee times and scores

8:40 am: Tanirika Singh 172; Mehar Atwal 163

8:50 am: Anisha Agarwalla 162; Anousha Tripathi 162

9 am: Ananya Datar 162; Rhea Jha 161; Smriti Mehra 160

9:10 am: Siddhi Kapoor 158; Sonam Chugh 158; Jyotsana Singh 158

9:20 am: Trimann Saluja 157; Gurjot Badwal 154; Lakhmehar Pardesi 154

9:30 am: Ishvari Prasanna 152; Saaniya Sharma 152; Hunar Mittal (A) 151

9:40 am: Gursimar Badwal 151; Asmitha Sathish (A) 151; Neha Tripathi 150

9:50 am: Oviya Reddi 150; Ridhima Dilawari 147; Pranavi Urs 146

10 am: Gaurika Bishnoi 144; Amandeep Drall 142; Vani Kapoor 142

Also read: Amandeep Drall completes wire-to-wire win at Bangalore Golf Club