Women's Golf Association of India

Seher Atwal enters final round as leader for second week running at Hero WPGT

Pune, Feb 18:Seher Atwal entered the final round with a lead for the second time in as many weeks, as a bogey-free 4-under 67 saw her jump to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Poona Club Golf Course on Thursday. Seher followed up her first round of even par 71 with a 67. At 4-under 138 she leads Tvesa Malik (71-69) by two shots.

Overnight co-leaders Amandeep Drall (68-72) and Hitaashee Bakshi (68-72) slipped to Tied-third, while Vani Kapoor (71-70) was fifth. The elder of the two Bakshi sisters, Jahanvi (70-72) was sixth.

With five players under par and one at par, the top six are just four shots apart and this sets up a battle for the title at the fourth leg of the Hero WPGT.

A niece of Indian golf legend Arjun Atwal, young Seher has been showing an upward trend in the season, as she was T-6 in the first leg and then T-10 in the second. Last week she was fourth after leading by three shots on the final day, as amateur Avani Prashanth took away the honours. Seher, who was on the college golf team at the Rollins in the United States, could be heading for her maiden win on the pro circuit this week.

Seher had just one birdie on the front nine, but she did not drop any shots as she turned in one-under. A birdie on 10th followed by another on 14th saw her get to 3-under and she stayed focused to roll in another birdie on the 18th and finish the day at 4-under.

Tvesa Malik had three birdies against one bogey, on the Par-5 12th, which she bogeyed on the first day too. She has now dropped three shots on Par-5s, two on the first day and one on the second.

Amandeep Drall seemed to be going fine till she dropped three shots in four holes at the end with bogeys on 15th, 16th and 18th for a 72. Hitaashee had two birdies against three bogeys for her 72.

Amateur Sneha Singh (72-71) tied seventh alongside Ananya Datar (71-72), while last week’s winner, amateur Avani Prashanth, improved her score from 73 to 71 in the second round and was Tied-ninth with Gauri Karhade (72-72).

Among the bigger names, Ridhima Dilawari (70-75) was T-11, while Gaurika Bishnoi (75-72) and Diksha Dagar (71-76) were Tied-12th.

Tee times for the third and final round of the fourth leg of the Hero WPGT at Poona Club Golf Course, Pune :

8:00 AM : Anousha Tripathi 168; Marshneil Prasad 168; Mehar Atwal 163;

8:10 AM : Geetika Ahuja 160; Trimann Saluja 160; Durga Nittur 160;

8:20 AM : Astha Madan 159; Ishvari Prasanna 158; Rhea Jha 155;

8:30 AM : Nishna Patel (A) 155; Disha Kavery 155; Saaniya Sharma 155;

8:45 AM : Shriya Vivek 154; Puneet K. Bajwa (A) 154; Shweta Mansingh 154;

8:55 AM : Jyotsana Singh 152; Neha Tripathi 152; Khushi Hooda (A) 150;

9:05 AM : Rhea Purvi Saravanan 150; Nayanika Sanga (A) 149; Oviya Reddi 148;

9:15 AM: Diksha Dagar 147; Khushi Khanijau 147; Gaurika Bishnoi 147

9:30 AM: Shagun Narain 147; Ridhima Dilawari 145; Gauri Karhade 144

9:40 AM: Avani Prashanth (A) 144; Ananya Datar 143; Sneha Singh (A) 143

9:50 AM: Jahanvi Bakshi 142; Vani Kapoor 141; Amandeep Drall 140

10:00 AM: Hitaashee Bakshi 140; Tvesa Malik 140; Seher Atwal 138