Vidhatri overcomes late slip to share DLF lead with Hitaashee

Vidhatri Urs rode her luck into a share of the 36-hole lead in leg 12 of the Hero WPGT at the D:F course on Thursday. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji

Vidhatri Urs moved closer towards a fourth straight win, taking a share of the second round lead with Hitaashee Bakshi at the DLF Golf & Country Club on Thursday.

Winner of the last three events on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, Mysore-based Vidhatri had her share of luck on the day in the 12^th leg as well.

DLF golfer Hitaashee led by one shot overnight but stumbled to a 3 over par 75 on Thursday while Vidhatri survived a triple bogey and a double to close the gap with a 2 over 74, the WGAI said.

The two were tied on 1 over 145 after 36 holes. Kriti Chowhan, who is seeking her first win, was third with 73-73 in the two rounds for a 2-over 146.

Shweta Mansingh (75-73) was tied fourth with Vani Kapoor (72-76) on 4-over 148, while 2023 Order of Merit winner Sneha Singh was sole sixth with rounds of 73 and 76.

Big blips

Vidhatri had two lapses in her round as she double bogeyed the par-4 ninth and triple bogeyed the par-4 17^th. She also had five birdies and two further dropped shots in a roller-coaster round.

Order of Merit leader Hitaashee dropped four shots before the turn against one birdie and swapped bogey for birdie on the back nine to follow her opening 2 under 70 with a 74.

Kriti began bogey-birdie-bogey, had another bogey on hole 14 and a birdie on 18 for a round of 73, which the equalled the day’s best alongside Shweta Mansingh (73). Shweta had four birdies against five bogeys.

Amateur Janneya Dasannjee (73-77) was sole seventh, while two other amateurs Ananya Sood (76-75) and Lavanya Gupta (71-80) were tied eighth.

Another two amateurs, Kashika Misra (76-78) and Anvvi Dahhiya (75-79) rounded off the top 10 with all nine entered making the cut.

Overnight leader Hitaashee Bakshi had a rough opening nine holes but did well to hang on to the joint lead on the day. Image courtesy WGAI.

Scores and round 3 tee times

7:30 am: Oviya Reddi 163, Neha Tripathi 162, Shagun Narain 161

7:40 am: Yashita Raghav 161, Yaalisai Verma 160, Anuradha Chaudhuri (A) 160

7:50 am: Ravjot K. Dosanjh 160, Geetika Ahuja 160, Anvitha Narender 160

8 am: Snigdha Goswami 160, Ananya Garg 160, Keya K. Badugu (A) 159

8:10 am: Chitrangada Singh 159, Agrima Manral 157, Khushi Khanijau 157

8:25 am: Keerthana Rajeev (A) 155, Amandeep Drall 155, Astha Madan 155

8:35 am: Mannat Brar (A) 155, Anvvi Dahhiya 154, Kashika Misra (A) 154

8:45 am: Lavanya Gupta (A) 151, Ananyaa Sood (A) 151, Janneya Dasanniee (A) 150

8:55 am: Sneha Singh 149, Vani Kapoor 148, Shweta Mansingh 148

9:05 am: Kriti Chowhan 146, Hitaashee Bakshi 145, Vidhatri Urs 145

Also read: Hitaashee Bakshi takes a one-shot lead in DLF leg of Hero WPGT