Hitaashee Bakshi played a flawless and extremely steady round of two-under 70 to grab the sole lead at the end of the second round of the second leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course. She led by three shots over the far more experienced Ridhima Dilawari, who made amends for her none-too-happy opening round with the day’s best card of three-under 69.
There were as many as five players in tied second and apart from Ridhima the bunch included first-round leader, Jahanvi Bakshi (75), the elder sister of Hitaashee. The other four are last week’s runner-up Pranavi Urs (72), emerging talent Oviya Reddi (71), and amateur Avani Prashanth (72).
Vani Kapoor (72) was seventh, while Amandeep Drall (72) was eighth and Seher Atwal (72) occupied the ninth spot.
Three players amateur Sneha Singh, Ananya Datar and Khushi Khanijau were tied for 10th, while Neha Tripathi (78), who was second after the first round, slipped to T-13.
Hitaashee, who is just 16 years of age, won the last leg of the Hero Tour in 2020 in only her second start as a pro. In the second round here in Chennai she birdied the sixth and 13th and parred the remaining 16 holes for a superb 70.
Jahanvi, who is 20 months older than Hitaashee, had a rough front nine. Although she had a birdie on first, she bogeyed third, seventh and ninth, double bogeyed the sixth and turned in four-over 39. On the back nine she birdied twice and did not drop any shots to finish with 75.
Oviya, who has been making a lot of birdies, had three more and an eagle too. She also dropped four bogeys to end up with an even par round.
Pranavi Urs had two birdies on front nine and two bogeys on back nine for her 72, while amateur Avani had four birdies against as many bogeys.
Tee times for the third and final round of the first leg of the Hero WPGT at TNGF Cosmo Golf Course, Chennai:
7:30 AM: Durga Nittur 161; Anousha Tripathi 160
7:40 AM: Mehar Atwal 160; Jyotsana Singh 159;
7:50 AM: Lakhmehar Pardesi 158; Hridhika Vora (A) 158; Rhea Jha 157
8:00 AM: Hunar Mittal (A) 157; Rhea Purvi S. 157; Gauri Karhade 155
8:10: AM: Disha Kavery (A); 155 Rishika M. (A) 154; Shweta Mansingh 153
8:20 AM: Shriya Vivek 153; Siddhi Kapoor 153; Asmitha Sathish 152;
8:30 AM: Saaniya Sharma 150; Neha Tripathi 149; Ishvari Prasanna 149;
8:40 AM: Khushi Khanijau 148; Sneha Singh (A) 148; Ananya Datar 148;
8:50 AM: Seher Atwal 147; Amandeep Drall 146; Vani Kapoor 145;
9:00 AM: Jahanvi Bakshi 144; Pranavi Urs 144; Avani Prashanth (A) 144
9:10 AM: Oviya Reddi 144; Ridhima Dilawari 144; Hitaashee Bakshi 141
