Gurugram, Oct 20 (PTI) India’s Vani Kapoor grabbed the spotlight at the Hero Women’s Indian Open here, striking two-under par to be placed second, while Diksha Dagar held on for an even par 72 to be joint third after the second round of the USD 400,000 tournament on Friday.
Vani added 70 to her first-round 68 on Thursday, for a two-day total of six-under to lead for most part of the day. But, in the evening, she was overtaken by German rookie Aline Krauter, who shot a 69 on Friday for a two-day total of seven-under at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
Diksha, making a bid to move to the top of the Ladies European Tour’s (LET) Race to Costa Del Sol standings, held on for an even par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys after a 67 on Day 1. She was five-under and tied third with Swede Sara Kjellker (66), who had the day’s best card.
Four Indians figure in the top-seven on the leaderboard with six others making the cut, which fell at 6-over.
Gaurika Bishnoi, who has played most of her golf at the DLF course, carded 69 to be tied-seventh with amateur Avani Prashanth (71-70) at 3-under.
Amateur Vidhatri Urs, 2-under through her first nine holes, had a bad second nine with four bogeys, three of them straight from sixth to eighth holes. She shot 74 and was even par for 36 holes and tied-14th, a sharp drop from tied-sixth overnight.
Ridhima Dilawari (74-71) was T-20, Khushi Khanijau (73-73) was T-29 and Neha Tripathi (75-72) was T-35.
Nishtha Madan, seven over 79 for the first day, made a fine recovery to shoot 70 on the second day and ensured weekend action at T-51 at 5-over.
Vani, who had a four-under on the opening day, fired six birdies against four bogeys on Day 2.
Starting two behind overnight leader Madelene Stavnar (74), Vani birdied the third, seventh and ninth on the front nine before giving shots back on the fourth, eighth and 10th. She made back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th before adding another on the par-3 16th to storm into the lead.
However on the 18th, Vani’s wayward shot landed in the bushes and made a bogey on the par-5 closing hole.
“It’s so nice to play at your home course and have friends and family here as well as all the DLF members. It’s a brilliant feeling (and) really a different feeling,” said Vani.
“It was quite an up and down round,” she said. “I would make one birdie and then drop a bogey. But I’m glad that I held on,” added Vani, who is making her 11th appearance at her National Open.
The leader after Round 2, Krauter said, “My ball striking was really good today. This helps around this course. I left a lot out there around the greens, but I feel like that’s every golf round.
“I put myself in great positions and had a lot of birdie chances. I didn’t convert as many as I would have liked, or could have, but it was still a great round.” Vani, 120th in the Race to Costa del Sol, needs a good finish to keep her LET card for the next season. She said, “Obviously keeping my card is important, but right now I’m not thinking about that. I feel I’ve come to terms with it, irrespective (of that) I’m still going to be playing golf and I love the sport.” At tied third was the Diksha, fourth on the Race to Costa Del Sol standings.
“I didn’t start well,” said Diksha about dropping shots on her opening two holes.
“Today my putting let me down, and the pin positions were a little bit tougher than yesterday.” Diksha clawed back with birdies on the eighth and 11th before dropping another shot back on the par-4 14th. She then birdied the par-5 18th to move to within one of Vani. Both were later overtaken by Krauter.
Avani, who had a win at Queen Sirikit Cup and one on the LET Access Tour in Europe, looked confident after her 2-under 70 that had four birdies against two bogeys.
“I started off very well with a birdie on the first, immediately hit a bad shot on second. I told my dad on the sixth green that I’m going to birdie seven, eight, nine; exactly what I did. And then, going into the back at three under, I was very happy with how I was going,” said Avani.
Gaurika, who has not been able to translate her good form on the local tour to the internationals, said, “I’ve had a fantastic season (at home) because I’ve played six events and won two and I finished runner-up in two.
“I haven’t had the opportunity actually to play that much internationally. Also, I was struggling initially a little with my injuries. I am just finding my momentum again.” PTI AM AM AH AH
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