Day one leader Vishatri Urs in action at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Wednesday. Image courtesy WGAI.
By Rahul Banerji
Vidhatri Urs rebounded from three bogeys in a row at the start to finish in the first round lead in the DLF Golf and Country Club leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Wednesday.
Playing at the challenging venue that will also host next month’s Hero Women’s Indian Open, Vidhatri fought back with seven birdies against just one more bogey for a splendid 3 under par 69, the WGAI said.
Vidhatri and Jasmine Shekar (71) went under par, while Diksha Dagar, who leaves for the Asian Games next week, carded an even par 72 alongside Mannat Brar for tied third position.
Diksha has a third place finish at the Open in the past and be back in action at the DLF course for a rare domestic appearance after the Asiad in Japan’s Aichi-Nagoya next week.
Gaurika Bishnoi, also with an eye on the national Open, was 1 over 73 for tied fifth with Vani Kapoor, who has a stellar record at the HWIO.
Vidhatri, who won the Zion Hills leg this season, displayed resilience and courage as she set out to repair the early damage of over her first three holes.
Gaining momentum
Back-to-back birdies on holes four and five gave her some momentum, but another bogey on six meant she was still 2 over.
Then came the fightback. Vidhatri birdied eight and nine to reach even par at the turn.
On the back nine the Mysore golfer gained in confidence to pick up shots on holes 13, 15 and 18 for her merited 69.
Ladies European Tour winner Diksha dropped a shot on three, but birdies on five, seven and nine saw her turn in 2-under. However, the back nine saw her drop three shots against just one further birdie.
Jasmine was 4-under through nine holes but slipped with three bogeys before finishing birdie-bogey for a 71 to trail Vidhatri by two shots.
Tvesa Malik, Nayanika Sanga and Lavanya Jadon were 2 over 74 to share seventh place.
Four-time winner this season Ridhima Dilawari was tied for 10th place on 3 over 75 with Eti Chaudhary, Karishma Govind, Shreshta Shukla and Sifat Sagoo.
The DLF field is the largest ever assembled for a Hero WPGT event with a starting lineup of 60 that includes 53 professionals and seven amateurs.
The event is offering Rs 17 lakh as a prize purse.
Scores and round 2 tee times
8:40 am: Esther Lobo 87, Geetika Ahuja 86
8:51 am: Riya Jadon 86, Anahita Singh 86, Jahnavi Prakhya 85
9:02 am: Ahaana Tewari (A) 84, Yashita Raghav 84, Jiah Kang 84
9:13 am: Neha Tripathi 84, Ravjot Dosanjh 83, Oviya Reddi 83
9:24 am: Khushi Khanijau 83, Mehak Lohan (A) 82, Shagun Narain 82
9:35 am: Agrima Manral 82, Ketaki Sood 81, Ayesha Gupta (A) 81
9:46 am: Snigdha Goswami 81, Alysha Dutt (A) 81, Shinjini Mukherjee 81
9:57 am: Amandeep Drall 81, Anvitha Narender 80, Shweta Mansingh 80
10:08 am: Sneha Singh 80, Yaalisai Verma 80, Jahaanvie Walia 80
10:19 am: Heena Kang 80, Seher Atwal 80, Ananya Datar 80
10:30 am: Anaggha Venkatesh 80, Anushka Gupta (A) 79, Smriti Bhargav 78
10:41 am: Anuradha Chaudhuri (A) 78, Saanvi Somu 78, Anvvi Dahhiya 78
10:52 am: Yogya Bhalla (A) 77, Kashika Misra 77, Janneya Dasanniee 77
11:03 am: Durga Nittur 77, Sifat Sagoo 75, Shrestha Shukla 75
11:14 am: Karishma Govind 75, Ridhima Dilawari 75, Eti Chaudhary 75
11:25 am: Lavanya Jadon 74, Nayanika Sanga 74, Tvesa Malik 74
11:36 am: Vani Kapoor 73, Gaurika Bishnoi 73, Mannat Brar 72
11:47 am: Diksha Dagar 72, Jasmine Shekar 71, Vidhatri Urs 69
Also read: Ridhima holds off hard-charging Mannat for season’s fourth win
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