Women's Golf Association of India

Amateur Zara and Lavanya share lead in 8^th leg of Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour

Bengaluru, June 17: Amateur Zara Anand, who joins college in the United States later this year, continued to show that she is one of the most promising talents in the country as she shot 4-under 64 in the first round of the eighth Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club. Sharing the lead with Zara was Lavanya Jadon, who played the Singapore Ladies Masters last week.

With 4-under 64 each at the Par-68 course, the duo was one shot clear of Durga Nittur and Smriti Bhargav, who carded 3-under 65 each. Two other young stars, Anvvi Dahhiya and amateur Mahreen Bhatia were tied fifth with 2-under 66 each in the event carrying a purse of Rs.17 lakhs, which started with 57 players, but Jahanvi Bakshi withdrew due to medical reasons.

Zara began with three pars before faltering with bogeys on the next two holes. Then she made her recovery with back-to-back birdies on the sixth and the seventh and yet another one on the ninth to turn in 1-under. She maintained that momentum with a birdie on the tenth and three in a row from 13th to the 15th. A late bogey on the 17th cost her sole leadership.

Lavanya also made a great comeback on the back nine. With one birdie on fourth and bogeys on the next two holes, she was 1-over for the front nine. She roared back with five birdies on the back nine, as she picked a hat-trick of gains from the 11th to the 13th and two more on the 16th and the 17th for a 64.

Nittur had three birdies on the front nine and three more on back nine, but she also dropped three shots on the back nine. At one stage Nittur was 5-under and may well have led the first round but for her back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and the 17th. Smriti had four birdies and one bogey in her 65.

Mahreen holed six birdies, but she also dropped shots on four holes, while Anvvi Dahhiya carded five birdies against three bogeys.

Three players Mannat Brar, Karishma Govind and amateur Ananyaa Sood were tied seventh with rounds of 1-under 67, while four players Jasmine Shekar, Kashika Misra, Nayanika Sanga and Ayushi Dutta scored even par 68 each to round off the Top-10.

Among the big names struggling on the first day were last week’s runner-up and 2025 Hero Order of Merit winner Vani Kapoor, who carded 4-over 72 with her only birdie coming on the 18th. She was T-34 alongside her good friend Amandeep Drall.

Ridhima Dilawari and Vidhtari Urs were T-14 with 1-over 69 each, as were Heena Kang and Neha Tripathi. Hero supported Tvesa Malik (70) was T-19.

Tee times for Round 2 of the 8th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club:

1. 7:30 am: Shinjini Mukherjee 83, Eti Chaudhary 78;

2. 7:40 am: Rianca Thimmaiah (A) 77, Gourabi Bhowmick 76, Geetika Ahuja 76;

3. 7:50 am: Ravjot Dosanjh 76, Khushi Khanijau 75, Mayara Sharma 75;

4. 8:00 am: Prarthana Khanna 75, Anaggha Venkatesh 75, Sneha Singh 75;

5. 8:10 am: Vrinda Yadav 74, Anisha Agarwalla 74, Krishaa Nichani (A) 74;

6. 8:25 am: Riya Jadon 73, Oviya Reddi 73, Raza Kaur (A) 73;

7. 8:35 am: Prakruthi Sastry 73, Ketaki Sood 73, Vani Kapoor 72;

8. 8:45 am: Esther Lobo 72, Snigdha Goswami 72, Amandeep Drall 72;

9. 8:55 am: Jahnavi Prakhya 71, Ragini Navet (A) 71, Yaalisai Verma 71;

10. 9:05 am: Jia Kataria (A) 71, Shagun Narain 71, Alysha Dutt (A) 71;

11. 9:20 am: Ananya Datar 71, Rhea Jha 70, Ceerat Kang (A) 70;

12. 9:30 am: Seher Atwal 70, Keerthana Rajeev (A) 70, Ananthi Vivek (A) 70;

13. 9:40 am: Agrima Manral 70, Shweta Mansingh 70, Tvesa Malik 70;

14. 9:50 am: Neha Tripathi 69, Heena Kang 69, Ananya Garg 69;

15. 10:00 am: Ridhima Dilawari 69, Vidhatri Urs 69, Jasmine Shekar 68;

16. 10:15 am: Kashika Misra 68, Nayanika Sanga 68, Ayushi Dutta 68;

17. 10:25 am: Mannat Brar 67, Karishma Govind 67, Ananyaa Sood (A) 67;

18. 10:35 am: Mahreen Bhatia (A) 66, Anvvi Dahhiya 66, Smriti Bhargav 65;

19. 10:45 am: Durga Nittur 65, Lavanya Jadon 64, Zara Anand (A) 64.