Zara Anand, Lavanya Jadon share early lead at the BGC

Amateur Zara Anand was tied for the day one lead at the Bangalore Golf Club leg of the Hero WPGT on Wednesday. Image courtesy WGAI.

By Rahul Banerji

US-bound amateur Zara Anand and Lavanya Jadon shared the opening day’s lead in the eighth leg of the Hero Woman’s Pro Golf Tour at Bangalore Golf Club on Wednesday.

Zara, who joins college in America later this year, continued to underline her talent with a 4 under par 64 and was matched by Lavanya, who played the Singapore Ladies Masters last week, the WGAI said.

The two were a shot clear of Durga Nittur and Smriti Bhargav on 3 under 65s. 

Rising stars Anvvi Dahhiya and amateur Mahreen Bhatia shared fifth place on 2 under 66 in a starting field of 57 before Jahanvi Bakshi withdrew for medical reasons.

Zara began with three pars before dropping shots on the next two holes. She recovered with back-to-back birdies and had a third before the turn.

She maintained that momentum on the back nine with an early birdie and then off three in a row before a late bogey cost her sole ownership of the lead.

Lavanya, a winner last year on the Hero WPGT, also made a great comeback on the back nine after a birdie and two dropped shots on her outward nine holes.

Another promising player, Lavanya Jadon, was alongside Zara atop the BGC leaderboard on Wednesday. Image courtesy WGAI.

Strong recovery

She, however, roared back with five birdies on the home stretch including a hat-trick of early gains and then two more for her 64.

Durga had three birdies on the front nine and three more on back nine, but she also dropped three shots late in the round. 

At one stage she was 5 under but was undone by back-to-back bogeys coming up to the 18th hole. Smriti had four birdies and one bogey in her 65.

Mahreen holed six birdies, but she also dropped shots on four holes, while Anvvi Dahhiya carded five birdies against three bogeys.

Mannat Brar, Karishma Govind and amateur Ananyaa Sood were tied seventh on 1 under 67, while Jasmine Shekar, Kashika Misra, Nayanika Sanga and Ayushi Dutta returned level pars to round off the top 10.

Among those struggling on the day were last week’s runner-up and 2025 Hero Order of Merit winner Vani Kapoor, who was on 4 over 72 with her only birdie coming late in the day for a share of 34th place alongside her good friend Amandeep Drall.

Ridhima Dilawari and Vidhtari Urs were tied for 14th on 1 over 69s, as were Heena Kang and Neha Tripathi. 

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