Rabat (Morocco), May 22 (PTI) Indian golfer Pranavi Urs carded 3-under 70 to occupy tied second place with nine other players on the first day of the Lalla Meryem Cup here.
The other Indian players in the field had modest starts as Avani Prashanth and Diksha carded rounds of 2-over 75 to be T-61 while Hitaashee carded 5-over 78 to be placed T-99.
Australian Kelsey Bennet leads the field by two strokes after carding 5-under 68 in her opening round.
Pranavi began her first round on the back nine and made an early birdie on the 11th hole and made par on the next seven holes to head into the front nine with a score of 1-under par.
On the front nine, Pranavi made three consecutive birdies on the first, second and third holes before dropping a shot on the fourth with a bogey. Pars on the last five holes allowed the 23-year-old to finish the day tied for second place.
Pranavi, who was in the Top-10 at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, is searching for her maiden pro title on the Ladies European. However, late last year she won the IGPL Invitational Mumbai in a mixed field to become the first Indian woman pro to win a title in a field that also had men professionals.
Kelsey Bennet, the day one leader, made seven birdies and two bogeys in her opening round. She made birdies on the first, second, seventh, eighth, l12th, 13th and 16th holes. Her bogeys were made on the 14th and 15th holes.
Avani began her round with a bogey on the 10th hole and was even par at the turn after making two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine.
On the front nine, the second hole saw Avani drop four strokes as she made a quadruple bogey before gaining back strokes with birdies on the second and eighth holes to end the day at 2-over 75.
Diksha also began her round on the back nine and was even par for the first eight holes before she dropped her first shot of the day on the 18th hole to be 1-over par at the turn.
On the front nine, she picked up a shot with her sole birdie of the round on the second hole but dropped two strokes with a pair of bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes.
Hitaashee started her week on the back nine and five bogeys before the turn saw her occupy 5-over par before the turn.
On the front nine, she dropped another two shots with bogeys on the third and seventh holes before late birdies on the eighth and ninth holes allowed her to recover two strokes.
Ayako Uehara, Shannon Tan and Hannah Screen were the only three players within the top 10 to have recorded bogey free opening rounds. All three players carded a round of 3-under 70 to be tied for second alongside Pranavi. PTI Corr PDS PDS PDS
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