13 June 2019: Millie Saroha and Tvesa Malik swapped spots at the top of the leaderboard after an engaging second round at the Prestige Golfshire in Bengaluru. The eighth leg is poised on the edge with the two women separated by a single stroke. Saroha shot a brilliant 69 to edge past the overnight leader, who made 71 on Thursday to reach the final round at 1-under 143. Ridhima Dilawari remained in third place after adding a 75 to her first round 74, six shots adrift from Malik.
Astha Madan leapfrogged Gaurika Bishnoi and Khushi Khanijau to move into fourth with a fine 72 in the second round. Last week’s winner at Clover Greens, Bishnoi had to stay content with a 74, the same score as amateur Sneha Sharan and Neha Tripathi. The former is lying T6 with Khushi while Neha is T8 another amateur Asmitha Sathish, a dozen strokes behind the leader.
Back in the pack Sonam Chugh and Pranavi Urs made a solid recovery in the second round. Sonam was even on Thursday, working off an 84 in the opening round. Pranavi had an 83 on her first round card and swung it ten shots upward on Thursday with a timely 73.
Amateurs were shining elsewhere around the course too. Asmitha made an eagle three at the 13th hole while Shreya Pal took one on the par-4 11th hole.
Millie had a clean run on the way out, punctuated by a birdie at the par-5 third hole, measuring 485 yards. But she fell back to even par when she conceded a bogey at the 349 yards par-4 10th hole. Undeterred, Millie stuck to her task, scoring birdies at the 11th, 16th and 18th holes to ensure she had the best card on the day.
Back to back birdies at the 4th and 5th meant that Tvesa was marching along fluently at the top of the leaderboard. A third birdie of the round, at the par-4 14th hole, helped cushion a seemingly comfortable lead. Three-under through the 16th, Tvesa conceded bogeys at the final two holes of the round to settle for a 71.
Ridhima needed a good round to inch closer to the leaders but three bogeys on the way out and a double at the tenth put paid to her hopes of pushing the leaders harder. As it is, she is six shots behind second-placed Tvesa.
Astha had a patchy front nine, needing 38 strokes to pass the bend, but a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th helped her stay even on Thursday and move into the fourth spot at 8-over 150.
Gaurika is in the fifth place after making a 74 that included four birdies.
Tee times for Round 3 of the eighth leg of Hero WPG Tour, Prestige Golfshire:
8:00 AM: Afshan Fatima (165), Oviya Reddi (165), Anisha Padukone (165);
8:10 AM: Suchitra Ramesh (165), Siddhi Kapoor (163), Ivana Shah (A) (163);
8:20 AM: Mehar Atwal (163), Ishvari Prasanna (162), Shriya Vivek (162);
8:30 AM: Anousha Tripathi (161), Tanirika Singh (161), Smriti Mehra (160);
8:40 AM: Jyotsana Singh (159), Gauri Karhade (158), Amandeep Drall (158);
8:50 AM: Komal Chaudhary (157), Ananya Datar (156), Pranavi Urs (A) (156);
9:00 AM: Sonam Chugh (156), Gursimar Badwal (155), Shreya Pal (A) (155);
9:10 AM: Asmitha Sathish (A) (154), Neha Tripathi (154), Khushi Khanijau (152);
9:20 AM: Sneha Sharan (A) (152), Gaurika Bishnoi (151), Astha Madan (150);
9:30 AM: Ridhima Dilawari (149), Tvesa Malik (143), Millie Saroha (142).
