Golfer Pranavi opens with 67 for one shot lead in 9th leg of WPGT

Bengaluru : Pranavi Urs started on a fine note with a 2-under 67 first round card in the ninth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club.

The 19-year-old Pranavi, a three-time winner this season, led by two over Seher Atwal, who showed a welcome return to form with 1-under 68 at the Par-69 course.

Gauri Karhade, a one-time winner on the Hero WPG Tour, who needs to bring in more consistency in her game, was lying third with 2-over 71, while Sneha Singh, a four-time winner while still an amateur and now making her pro debut, carded 3-over 72 to be fourth.

Pranavi, who now seems to have recovered almost fully from injuries, had a superb front nine with birdies on fifth, sixth and eighth to be 3-under at the turn. She bogeyed 11th and 13th, but birdies on 14th and 16th made up for that. A bogey on Par-5 17th was followed by a par for 67.

Seher who opened with a bogey on the first hole made amends with a birdie on third and added two more on seventh and eighth. A bogey on ninth saw her make the turn at 1-under 33. She had a birdie on 13th but gave that away on the Par-5 17th to finish at 68, one shot behind Pranavi.

Gauri Karhade had two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey while Sneha had three birdies against six bogeys in her 72.

Four players, amateur Vidhatri Urs, Hitaashee Bakshi, Anisha Agarwalla and Shweta Mansingh shot 4-over 73 each to be tied for fifth, while four others, Khushi Khanijau, Afshan Fatima, Disha Kavery and Ananya Datar were T-9th with rounds of 5-over 74 each.