Amandeep cuts Gursimar’s lead in 2nd leg of Hero WPG Tour

Pune, Jan 24 (IANS) Amandeep Drall turned in the days only under-par round of one-under 71 to come within one shot of the overnight leader Gursimar Badwal (75) after two rounds in the second leg of the Hero Womens Pro Golf Tour at the Oxford Golf Resort here on Thursday.

Gursimar, who held a five-shot lead after 18 holes, carded 75 after being five-over after 13 holes. She is now one-under 143, while Amandeep is even par 144.

Tvesa Malik (73), the 2018 Hero Order of Merit winner, was lying tied-third with rookie Sifat Alag (74) at three-over 147. Winner of the first leg, Neha Tripathi had a rough day with four-over 76 and she was fifth at five-over 149.

Ananya Datar (74) was sole sixth at 152, while Mille Saroha (74) and Gaurika Bishnoi (80), who had a disastrous four-hole run of two bogeys and two doubles bogeys between fifth and eighth, were tied-seventh.

Afshan Fatima (78) was lying ninth, as Khushi Khanijau (77) and Suchitra Ramesh (80) were tied for tenth place.

Gursimar and Amandeep played in the lead group with Sifat being the third player. Gursimar dropped a shot on third but Amandeep had a double bogey on Par-5 fourth.

Tvesa, who had four birdies on the front nine also gave away a lot of shots as she dropped three bogeys. Yet she was the only player to turn in under-par for the front nine.

Sifat had her woes with a double on Par-4 fifth and a bogey on sixth but a birdie on seventh saw her play the first nine in two-over 38 like Gursimar.

On the back nine, Gursimar dropped three shots in four holes between 10th and 13th at which point all her lead had disappeared. That's also when Gursimar staged a fine fight back for three birdies in a row from 14th to 16th.

Amandeep added birdies on 13th and 14th but Gursimar's three-in-a-row gave her a two-shot lead yet again. However, the bogey on 18th meant she was just one clear of Amandeep at the end of the second day.

Tvesa, after being one-under for the front nine, made no headway on the back nine and in fact slipped back with two-over 38, with bogeys on 12th and 14th and no birdies. She was tied-third with Sifat, who during the day had three birdies, three bogeys and a double in her 74.

In the final round on Friday, Dolma Rawat, Hita Prakash and Mehar Atwal will go out first, followed by Ayesha Kapur, Komal Chaudhary and Sonam Chugh. The day's third group will see Jyotsana Singh, Ishvari Prasanna and Smriti Mehra, while Siddhi Kapoor, Suchitra Ramesh and Khushi Khanijau are in the fourth group.

The fifth group will feature Afshan Fatima, Gaurika and Millie Saroha, while the penultimate threesome has Ananya Datar, Neha and Sifat. The lead group comprises Tvesa, Amandeep and Gursimar.