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Diksha drops late bogeys to shoot even par, lies 26th in Thailand

Pattaya, Thailand, June 20 : Diksha Dagar was going great till almost the very end as she dropped from two-under to even par in the first round of the Ladies European Thailand Championship in Pattaya.

Diksha, winner of the Women’s South African Open this year, birdied two of the first three Par-5s on second and 13th to get to two-under.

Then dropped her first shot of the day on Par-4 17th and then earsed her earlier gains further by bogeying the Par-5 18th. Diksha is lying Tied-26th, as Swede Lina Boqvist shot a 67 in sweltering heat at Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.

The other two Indians in the fray, Tvesa Malik (75) and Asdtha Madan (77) did not have a great start. Tvesa, who had two birdies also had five bogeys, and was Tied-66th, while Astha had five bogeys and no birdies and she was Tied-91st.

The leading 60 players will make the cut and head into the weekend.

The 28-year-old Swede Lina fired five birdies on the front nine and made another gain at the 10th but carded two late bogeys, followed by another birdie on the short 14th, to set the target at five-under, one ahead of Olivia Cowan.

The heat made scoring more difficult as the morning wave finished their rounds, with those players in the afternoon set for a tough challenge.

Cowan, who shot a 68, carded a pair of opening birdies on each of the nines and she admitted that the conditions some of the toughest she had played in.

Six further players share third place on three-under-par, including the 2016 order of merit winner Beth Allen, Felicity Johnson, Onkanok Soisuwan, Kultida Pramphun and past champions Atthaya Thitikul and Kanyalak Preedasutijit, from Thailand.