Indian sports news wrap, January 11

Nishna Patel stayed a step ahead with a very steady even par 71 in the second round of the opening leg of the 2024 Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Poona Club Golf Course on Thursday. Nishna thus remains at 5 under 137 for two rounds and is two shots clear of Hitaashee Bakshi. Hitaashee shot 1 under 70 which allowed her to narrow the gap between herself and Nishna to two shots.

Nishna had one birdie on the front nine but surrendered that on the back nine on the Par 4 15th. With the WPGT having produced at least one amateur winner each year since 2017, Nishna could keep that trend going if she holds on to her lead on Friday. Hitaashee Bakshi had four birdies against three bogeys.

Three of those birdies came on the front nine. She is now 3 under 139 for two rounds. Sneha Singh (69) and Seher Atwal (68), who had the day’s best round, moved up the leaderboard. Sneha had a good run of three birdies towards the end of the front nine with gains on sixth, seventh and ninth, but back to back bogeys on 10th and 11th pulled her back.

She made up with birdies on the 14th and 18th to turn in a card of 69 and is 1 under 141 for the two rounds so far. Seher, who won the opening leg of the previous season, had five birdies against two bogeys for the day’s best card of 68. She is now even par 142 for two rounds. Another amateur Mannat Brar (74) slipped to tied fifth alongside Khushi Khanijau (71) at 1 over 143.

Four players, Ananya Datar (71), Ananya Garg (72), Rhea Jha (73) and Jasmine Shekar (74) were tied for seventh place at 4 over 146, while the seasoned Amandeep Drall (74) was tied 11th with amateur Anuradha Chaudhuri (77), who slipped down the leader board from her tied fourth position after the first day.

The cut fell at 10, with 19 professionals and three amateurs making it through to the final round. The cut fell at 152 and 22 players made the cut. With the final group featuring Nishna Patel, Hitaashee Bakshi and Sneha Singh, and Seher Atwal also in the race, it could produce a tight finish. India’s Avani Prashanth braved a tough round three to hang onto the shared second place on the third day of the Australian Masters of Amateurs tournament in Southern Golf Club here Thursday.

Avani, who shared the second place with two others at 3 under 143 for two rounds at the Par 73 course, was four shots behind the new leader, Lion Higo from Gold Coast, Australia. Higo, who plays US College golf in Pepperdine, played rounds of 71 71 70 Avani, ranked 50th in the world, and one of the top contenders for the title shot 77 on this day, but still managed to be in second place with Rianne Malixi of the Philippines, who shot 1 over 74.

Malixi rose from third to tied second at 3 under 143. The third player in the tie for second place was the leader of the first two rounds – Nika Ito of Japan who crashed to 5 over 78. She had rounds of 68 70 on the first two days. Needing a fast charge to make a bid for the lead, Avani struggled early with bogeys on the first and third and she became 3 over after six holes.

Things turned worse with a fourth bogey on 12th. She attempted a comeback with two birdies on 13th and the 15th, but two bogeys on the 14th and 18th saw her finish the day at 4 over 77. Overall, the Indian amateur star played well but was unable to keep the momentum going despite some excellent play on the first two days.

She has another round to try to add to her international laurels. Heena Kang had a rough international debut as she ended with a final round of 83 and missed the cut, which was applied after three days. The top 33 and ties will play the fourth and final round. Among men, Rohit Narwal shot 73 after 76 70 and missed the cut as did Sandeep Yadav (84 74 75).

The Top 45 and ties will play the final round in the men’s section. The lead in the men’s section was shared by Scotland’s Oliver with Mukherjee (69 70 66) and Max Moring (67 67 71) at 11 under 205. New Zealand’s Zackary Swanwick (67 67 72) was lying third at 10 under 206. Comments.