Women's Golf Association of India

Anvitha, amateur Lavanya among 4 in shared lead in 8^th leg of Hero WPGT

Bengaluru, June 18: Anvitha Narender, who turned pro only last week, and Sneha Singh, the 2023 Hero order of Merit leader, were among the four co-leaders at the end of the first day of the eighth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club. Anvitha and Sneha shared the lead with Rhea Jha and amateur Lavanya Jadon with 1-under 69 each.

They were followed by Seher Atwal who shot even par while three others, amateur Saanvi Somu, Gaurabi Bhowmick and Snigdha Goswami carded 1-over 71 each on a crowded leaderboard.

Vidhatri Urs, third on her pro debut last week, was among three players at T-9 with 2-over 72. The other two were Disha Kavery and Rhea Purvi Saravanan.

A week after new pro Vidhatri had taken the first round lead in the seventh leg, Anvitha, also playing only her second event as a pro, found herself in the lead bunch after 18 holes.

Anvitha had a birdie on the ninth and a bogey on the 10th, and then birdied 16 and 18 with a dropped shot in between on 17th. Rhea Jha had four birdies, including two on 16th and the 17th, but also had three bogeys, while Sneha had six birdies, including two on the first two holes and five bogeys, two of them on the two closing holes for her 69.

Lavanya Jadon, who has been showing a lot of promise on the amateur circuit, dropped a double bogey on the second and a bogey on the fourth to be 3-over after four holes. She staged a fine comeback with five birdies to get to 2-under before a late bogey on the tough Par-5 17th pulled her back to 1-under.

Seher had three each of birdies and bogeys and was just one behind the leading quartet.

Last week’s winner Gaurika Bishnoi, who had two birdies on the front nine, dropped two double bogeys on the 12th and the 14th and closed with a bogey on the 18th for a 3-over 73.

Hitaashee Bakshi, dashing in from the Singapore Ladies Masters where she was third on Sunday, had a rough day. Arriving late for a practice round on Monday, she had seven pars to begin with as she missed a few makeable birdie putts. Then she went out of bounds on the Par-5 eighth and had a triple bogey followed by a bogey. Two more bogeys on the 17th and the 18th meant she was six-over and without a birdie on the card. She was T-22nd.

Tee times for the second round of the 8th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club:

1. 7:30 am: Geetika Ahuja 84, Marshneil Prasad 83, Krishaa Nichani (A) 82;

2. 7:40 am: Shagun Narain 81, Ishvari Prasanna 81, Sachika Singh 81;

3. 7:50 am: Jyotsana Singh 80, Anaggha Venkatesh 79, Anisha Agarwalla 78;

4. 8:00 am: Anuradha Chaudhuri 78, Yaalisai Verma 78, Shweta Mansingh 77;

5. 8:10 am: Karishma Govind 77, Jasmine Shekar 77, Hitaashee Bakshi 76;

6. 8:25 am: Astha Madan 76, Chitrangada Singh 76, Riya Yadav 76;

7. 8:35 am: Gauri Karhade 75, Khushi Khanijau 75, Jahaanvie Walia 75;

8. 8:45 am: Agrima Manral 74, Amandeep Drall 74, Prakruthi N Sastry (A) 74;

9. 8:55 am: Ananya Garg 74. Keerthana Rajeev (A) 74, Ravjot K Dosanjh 74;

10. 9:10 am: Gaurika Bishnoi 73, Rhea Purvi S. 72, Vidhatri Urs 72;

11. 9:20 am: Disha Kavery 72, Saanvi Somu (A) 71, Snigdha Goswami 71;

12. 9:30 am: Gourabi Bhowmick 71, Seher Atwal 70, Lavanya Jadon (A) 69;

13. 9:40 am: Sneha Singh 69, Anvitha Narender 69, Rhea Jha 69