Amateur Vidhatri Urs leads field by four at Prestige Golfshire

By Rahul Banerji

Mysore’s Vidhatri Urs carded a brilliant 7-under 65 to take a healthy lead after the first round of the ninth Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at Prestige Golfshire on Wednesday.

The amateur, one of six in the field, led season’s opening leg winner Seher Atwal, Durga Nittur and rookie Kriti Chowhan, who all shot 69s by four shots.

With fifth-placed Sachika Singh at 2-under 70, Tvesa Malik, two-time winner Sneha Singh and Rhea Purvi Saravanan were tied for sixth on level par 72.

Neha Tripathi led a group of six including Jyotsana Singh, Shweta Mansingh, amateur Saanvi Somu, Yaalisai Verma and Riya Yadav in tied ninth on 73s.

The star turn though came from Vidhatri Urs who had eight birdies against a lone bogey on her front nine.

The winner of IGU’s Telangana Ladies Amateur, Vidhatri picked up four shots before the turn and a further four after that against that one dropped shot.

Durga Nittur, looking for her maiden tour win had three birdies and no bogeys, picking up two shots before the turn and one on her way back to the clubhouse.

Bouncing back

Seher Atwal, who has also been playing in events in Europe and is due to play the Singapore Ladies Masters next month, had one birdie against two bogeys on front nine.

She bounced back with three birdies in a row from 11 to 13 and added another one on 18 to make it to 69. Kriti Chowhan has four birdies and just one bogey in her 69.

Tvesa Malik shot 72 despite two late bogeys on 16 and 17 in her 72.

Seher leads the order of merit with earnings of Rs.6,59,635 to Sneha’s Rs. 6,54,667. Gaurika is in third place with 5,99,000.

The six amateurs in the field include Keerthana Rajeev, who finished runner-up last week to Gaurika Bishnoi at Clover Greens, and Lavanya Jadon, who recently played in the Japan Open Amateur Championships.

Scores and round two tee times

8 am: Marshneil Prasad 85, Vrinda Yadav 84, Ishvari Prasanna 83

8:10 am: Geetika Ahuja 82, Karishma Govind 81, Taniya Balasuriya 81

8:20 am: Snigdha Goswami 80, Disha Kavery 79, Suchitra Ramesh 79

8:30 am: Agrima Manral 79, Lavanya Jadon (A) 78, Ravjot Dosanjh 78

8:40 am: Gauri Karhade 78, Mehar Atwal 77, Hitaashee Bakshi 76

8:50 am: Keerthana Rajeev (A) 76, Rhea Jha 76, Rishika Muralidhar 75

9 am: Ananya Datar 75, Shagun Narain 74, Mannat Brar (A) 74

9:10 am: Anisha Agarwalla 74, Khushi Khanijau 74, Aaradhya Shetty (A) 74

9:20 am: Jasmine Shekar 74, Riya Yadav 73, Yaalisai Verma 73

9:30 am: Saanvi Somu (A) 73, Neha Tripathi 73, Shweta Mansingh 73

9:40 am: Jyotsana Singh 73, Rhea Purvi Saravanan 72, Sneha Singh 72

9:50 am: Tvesa Malik 72, Sachika Singh 70, Kriti Chowhan 69

10 am: Durga Nittur 69, Seher Atwal 69, Vidhatri Urs (A) 65

Also read: Clinical Gaurika cruises to repeat WPGT win at Clover Greens