Dec 13, 2016: Local teenager Ananya Barthakur surprised higher ranked players by taking a share of the lead with the highly experienced 21-year-old three-time Malaysian Ladies Amateur champion
Nur Duriah Darmiyan at the end of the first round of the Strokeplay section of the Usha 100th All India Ladies Amateur Championships which got underway on Tuesday.
After 36 holes, the top 16 amateurs will qualify for Matchplay section of the Usha All India Championships, which is celebrating its 100th staging this year.
The 15-year-old Ananya, a student of Modern School in South Delhi, shot one-over 73 on the strength of two birdies on the back nine, including the closing hole, the 18th at the Delhi Golf Club.
Nur looked set to take sole lead with the day’s only under-par score, before she dropped shots on the 15th and 17th holes to settle for one-over 73.
Ananya and Nur were one shot clear of Delhi’s Seher Atwal, who is now studying at Rollins College in the US. Seher, younger sister of pro Meher Atwal, and a niece of Indian men’s professional golfer Arjun Atwal, carded 74 and was lying sole third.
Four players, including India’s Sifat Alag and Singaporeans Amanda Tan and Callista Chen and Taiwanese Tsai Wei Chia are tied for fourth at 76 each.
India’s No. 1 and 2 amateurs, Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik were lying Tied-eighth and Tied-10th with scores of 77 and 78.
In the team competition, three teams including India ‘B’ comprising Seher Atwal (74) and Sifat Sagoo (78) were tied for the first place with totals of 152 each. The other two teams were Malaysia ‘A’ (Nur Duriah Darmiyan 73 and Geraldine Wong 79) and Singapore (Amanda Tan 76 and Callista Chen 76). India’s top team of Diksha (77) and Tvesa (78) were fourth at 155.
A total of eight teams including India and for the first time a team from the R&A are participating in the team’s section.
IGU Release
