Smriti Mehra lying fourth in China

Report by Anand Datla

November 7, 2014: Smriti Mehra shot a 71, the best round of golf on the day, to stitch herself into fourth place at the 2015 Tour School Pre Qualifying C – Asia tournament at the Mission Hills Hainan’s Vintage Course. Overnight leader Wei Wei Zhang slipped to a 76 to surrender the lead to fellow amateur Jienalin Zhang. Thanuttra Boonraksasat, the first round leader took advantage of Wei’s woos to sneak into second position, just one shot behind Jienalin.

Jienalin shot a 73 on Friday to take the lead at 3-under 213. Boonraksasat made 74 in the third round to gain second place, with just the final round left to be played.

Wei made a 76 in the third round to go into the final round at 1-under 215, the same score as Boonraksasat.

Smriti was the best golfer on the day by some margin. The seasoned Indian made two birdies on either side of her march to set herself up for the best effort on the day.

She did surrender three bogeys too – one on the front at the 7th hole and two more on the 14th and 17th holes, but that was enough to be better than the rest.

Mehra is tied in fourth with Kyle Roig at four over 220. Roig was the only other woman to be par or better on the day, finishing with a steady 72 to join Smriti in fourth.

Neha Tripathi made 75, but her score of 13-over 229 is just outside the qualification mark. Only the top seven golfers from this event earn the right to progress further. Neha is lying eighth currently with two other golfers.

Ankita Tiwana signed off with a 75 to get off the bottom of the sheet. She is lying at 16-over 232, which is two better than Terry Jang.