Gurugram, Oct 24 (PTI) Indian golfers Ridhima Dilawari, Pranavi Urs and Diksha Dagar struggled on the home course, dishing out bogeys by the bagful even as Sara Kouskova of Czech Republic stroked her way to the top with a 3-under-par 69 on a testing opening day at the USD 400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open here on Thursday.
At the DLF Golf and Country Club, Kouskova led the field by a stroke as Ridhima and Pranavi found themselves tied for 17th place with 2-over-par 74s with a large group.
Olympian and pro-am winner Diksha struggled through the day to 6 over 78 that contained five bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-5 eighth hole. The two-time LET winner needed a closing birdie to salvage her round.
Tvesa Malik was a shot ahead of Diksha on 5 over 77 along with Khushi Khanijau in tied 56th place.
Promising amateur Zara Anand was three-over for a share of the 34th place, while fellow amateurs Mannat Brar and Janneya Dasanniee were a further stroke behind at tied 41st position.
However, 25-year-old Kouskova overcame testing conditions and an early morning haze to shoot three-under and was one of just seven players in the 114-strong field to break par.
She led Mireia Prat of Spain, Florentyna Parker of England, and France’s Perrine Delacour, who returned identical 2-under 70s, by a shot on a day that did not see a single bogey-free round.
Sharing the fifth place were Singapore’s Shannon Tan, Maria Hernandez of Spain and WGAI invitee Maha Haddioui of Morocco on 1-under 71 each, while there was a five-way tie for the eighth place on even-par 72 among Agathe Sauzon of France, Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord, Momoka Kobori of New Zealand, Australian Kirsten Rudgeley and Alice Hewson of England.
Kouskova, who has five top-10 finishes in the season so far, including a third place at the La Sella Open in Alicante, Spain, picked up two early birdies on the 11th and the 12th, before she dropped a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 13th hole. She quickly made up as she holed from 85 yards for the day’s only eagle.
A bogey on the 16th saw her turn in even par.
On her second nine, she had three birdies on the third, sixth and the ninth and no bogeys for a good 3-under 69 aggregate for the day.
“The front nine was wild. But we were like, ‘ok, this is DLF’, this is what can happen. I hit a really really good shot on 15. I thought it was a really good distance and it ended up pitching just short and going in the hole. I didn’t see it go in because it was behind the ridge. I heard a couple of cheers!” said Kouskova after her round.
“It was lots of steady golf after that. We tried to play as confident as possible. It was needed. The course is playing really tough this year, but the condition is still spectacular. It’s just as it should be for a world-class event like this. So it’s really enjoyable but really tough,” she added.
On Kouskova’s heels are the trio of Prat, Delacour and Parker. Prat, in fact, had one of the better cards of the opening day with a single bogey against three birdies, all of which came on the front nine.
Delacour and Parker had more eventful rounds with the Frenchwoman balancing five birdies against three dropped shots. Parker mixed four bogeys with six birdies, including three in her last five holes. PTI AM AM PDS PDS
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