Tvesa maintains 3-stroke lead as Ananya closes in at 13th leg of WPGT

After two rounds of the 13th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the DLF Golf & Country Club, Tvesa Malik saw her lead reduced by half but still maintained a comfortable 3-shot advantage over her nearest challenger.

Tvesa shot a 2-over 74 despite making three bogeys from the eighth to the thirteenth.

Ananya Datar (71-71), who fired a second consecutive 71 to close the gap to three strokes, was once only one back after 11 holes on the somewhat difficult Gary Player course that will hold India’s biggest women’s tournament, the Hero Women’s Indian Open, next month.

Tvesa had a two-round total of 5-under 139, while Ananya Datar, who was going for her first Hero WPGT victory, was at 2-under 142.

The remaining players were far behind. Neha Tripathi (71-75) dropped from equal second overnight to fourth at 2-over 146, while Khushi Khanijau (75-70) moved up the leaderboard to reach to third at 1-over 145.

Tvesa missed the cut in 1-over 37 after missing the third and Par-5 eighth before making her only birdie of the day on the ninth. Ananya, in contrast, scored three birdies and just one bogey in her 2-under 34, putting her at 2-under for the front nine. Just three separated the two teams at this point.

The lead was only one stroke on the back nine when Tvesa bogeyed the Par-4 11th and Ananya birdied the same hole.

The pair bogeyed the Par-4 13th, and Ananya missed the putt on the 14th, allowing Tvesa to extend his lead to two. Ananya parred the final four holes, giving Tvesa a comfortable three-hole lead after a birdie on the Par-4 17th.

On the front nine, Khushi Khanijau had two birdies and two bogeys, but she played considerably better on the back nine, making three birdies to only one bogey for the day’s best score of 2-under 70, moving her up to third place.

Neha Tripathi, who finished first the previous week, shot a front-nine bogey on the par-5 fourth and a triple bogey on the par-3 fifth. She was overnight joint second. On the back nine, Neha appeared to gain some ground with birdies on holes 15 and 17, but there was further tragedy in the form of a double bogey on the Par-5 18th, resulting in a score of 75, dropping her to fourth.

Kriti Chowhan (74-76) finished sixth, followed by Jasmine Shekar (72-75). Pranav Urs struggled further, adding a 75 to her initial round score of 76, placing her in a tie for seventh place with Asmitha Sathish (77-74) and Agrima Manral (73-78).

Mahreen Bhatia, an amateur who won two medals at the US Kids European and US Kids World Championships in golf, significantly improved on her opening round with a 73 following an 80 to make her way into the Top-10.

Seher Atwal (81-74) at T-12 and Sneha Singh (77-79) at T-15 were two prominent players who fell behind.

At 167, the cut was made, and 27 players made it.

Tvesa Malik will compete in the last round against Khushi Khanijau and Ananya Datar.

-IANS