Golf; Pranavi cards 67 for one shot lead in 9^th leg of Hero WPGT

Harpal Singh Bedi

In-form Pranavi Urs carded 2-under 67 to emerge sole leader at the end of the first round of the ninth leg of the Hero WPGT at the Bangalore Golf Club on Wednesday. 

 Paranavi, already three time me winner this season, led by two over Seher Atwal, who showed a sign of 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 11^th and 13^th, but birdies on 14^th and 16^th made up for that. A bogey on Par-5 17^th 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 13^th but gave that away on the Par-5 17^th 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-9^th with rounds of 5-over 74 each.