Gurugram, Oct 21 (PTI) Indian golfer Diksha Dagar salvaged her third round with a birdie-birdie finish as she carded a fine 1-under 71 to occupy fourth spot and keep her hopes alive of winning the USD 400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Diksha, who called her round a roller-coaster, was lying five shots behind Germany’s Aline Krauter (68), who was not able to maintain the momentum after a fine 3-under front nine at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
Aline, trying to make it a back-to-back win for Germany, stretched her lead from one to two shots.
Sweden’s Sara Kjellker, who has been in fine form with five top-10 finishes in last six starts, was second after three rounds.
Sara recovered from a double bogey on the first to bring home a 4-under 68 and vaulted to the second place at 9-under.
Lying on third slot was the first round leader and Sara’s close friend, Norway’s Madelene Stavnar (69). Stavnar also started with a double bogey while playing with Sara, but she rebounded to shoot 69. She had 66-74 on the first two days.
Diksha had three birdies on the front nine and three on the back with two bogeys on the front and back halves of the course.
Diksha, who is currently fourth on the Race to Costa Del Sol, can get to the top of the Order of Merit with a finish in Top-2.
Feeling she can still make some ground on Sunday, Diksha said, “It was a roller-coaster of a round. Today, I could have definitely done better. The greens were very fast today, probably two times faster than yesterday.” “I have to accept this, this is what golf is. I’m just going to enjoy myself tomorrow. Today I made some silly mistakes. So, it was a lot up and down in this round for me.” Local star Vani Kapoor, despite a disappointing 74, was tied fifth with England’s Hannah Burke (72).
Without being fluent, Vani seemed to be managing alright through the front nine with two birdies against a bogey.
She then lapsed into a disastrous stretch with a bogey on 10th and three bogeys in a row from 13th to 15th. She did pick a birdie on 17th, but was left seven behind the leader at 4-under.
Amateur Avani Prashanth had a 72 that included five birdies, including one on 18th, against three bogeys and a double bogey.
Gaurika Bishnoi also staved off what could have been a disaster day as she had five birdies against five bogeys and a double for a 74 that pushed her to T-12.
Nishtha Madan, who also plays on the Epson Tour in the US, shot 68, the best among Indians on the third day, and was T-19 at 1-over for 54 holes, as was amateur Vidhatri Urs (73).
Ridhima Dilawari (73) was 2-over for three days and T-25 and further behind were Khushi Khanijau (74) at T-34, Amandeep Drall (71) at T-37 and Neha Tripathi (75) at T-40. PTI PDS PDS UNG
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