Afshan Fatima takes two-shot lead over Gaurika in 14th leg of Hero WPGT

Afshan Fatima showed a welcome return to form with the day’s only under par score of 2-under 70, to take a two-shot lead over many of the star players in the first round of the 14th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Panchkula Golf Club.

Afshan, who was twice runner-up in 2019 and once before that in 2018 and has not won since the 13^th Leg of the 2018 season, was on top of the leader board after a very long time. Afshan, the 26-year-old from Jaipur, had a bogey on the second hole itself but fought back with three birdies on third, seventh and ninth and another one on 11^th to go 3-under for the day. She dropped a shot late on the 17th and finished at 2-under 70.

Gaurika Bishnoi, who won the weather-hit 13^th Leg and then had a creditable Top-10 finish at the Hero Women’s Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour, overcame a bogey-bogey start with a string of pars till the 12^th hole. She birdied the 13^th and then closed with another birdie on 18^th to ensure she finished at even par 72.

As many as six players finished at 1-over 73. Shweta Mansingh suffered a crippling triple bogey on Par-5 15^th after a bogey start. She also had three birdies. Ridhima Dilawari bogeyed 14^th, 15^th and 17^th after being 1-under till then. She finished 1-over.

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Seher Atwal had just one birdie on the eighth and two bogeys on the back nine, while Saaniya Sharma was hit by three bogeys in a row from sixth to eighth as she had four other birdies, three of them in the last five holes. Overall she had four birdies against five bogeys.

Khushi Khanijau had two birdies against one bogey and one double, while amateur Vidhatri Urs had two birdies against three bogeys.

Three players Neha Tripathi, Agrima Manral and Asmitha Sathish shot 2-over 74 each.

The disappointment of the day was Sneha Singh, who carded a disappointing 6-over 78 while another pre-tournament favourite Hitaashee Bakshi carded 4-over 76.

Tee times for Round 2 of the 14^th Leg of Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Panchkula Golf Club, Panchkula:

1 8:30 am : Ishvari Prasanna 82, Anaggha Venkatesh 81;

2 8:40 am : Karishma Govind 81; Jyotsana Singh 80;

3 8:50 am : Shagun Narain 80; Anisha Agarwalla 80; Ananya Datar 79;

4 9:00 am : Lakhmehar Pardesi 79; Riya Yadav 79; Heena Kang (A) 79;

5 9:15 am : Geetika Ahuja 78; Rhea Purvi Saravanan 78; Siddhi Kapoor 78;

6 9:25 am : Millie Saroha 78; Sneha Singh 78; Hitaashee Bakshi 76;

7 9:35 am : Rhea Jha 76; Ragini Navet (A) 76; Jia Kataria (A) 76;

8 9:45 am : Lavanya Jadon (A) 76; Neha Tripathi 75; Asmitha Sathish 75;

9 10:00 am : Agrima Manral 75; Khushi Khanijau 73; Saaniya Sharma 73;

10 10:10 am : Seher Atwal 73; Ridhima Dilawari 73; Vidhatri Urs (A) 73;

11 10:20 am : Shweta Mansingh 73; Gaurika Bishnoi 72; Afshan Fatima 70;