BENGALURU, Jun 21: Amateur Vidhatri Urs holed four birdies on either side of the Prestige Golfshire Club to take a four-shot lead, after the first round of the ninth leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, here on Wednesday.
Behind Vidhatri were three professional players at 69 each, which included Seher Atwal, the winner of the opening leg this season, Durga Nittur and rookie pro Kriti Chowhan.
Sachika Singh shot 2-under 70.
The seasoned Tvesa Malik, along with two-time winner this season, Sneha Singh and Rhea Purvi Saravanan, brought home 72 each and were tied sixth.
Six players — Jyotsana Singh, Shweta Mansingh, Neha Tripathi, amateur Saanvi Somu, Yaalisai Verma and Riya Yadav — shot 73 each to be tied ninth.
The day, however, belonged to Vidhatri, who is also a cousin of professional player Pranavi Urs. Pranavi had dominated the WPG Tour last season.
Vidhatri had eight birdies against one lone bogey on the fourth hole.
On Wednesday, Vidhatri birdied second, fifth, seventh and ninth and turned in a solid 3-under 33.
On the back nine, she did not drop any shots and birdied 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th for her best card on the tour with 65.
Vidhatri’s best result on the WPG Tour, where she plays often, has been a third place in June 2022. She had recently won the IGU’s Telangana Ladies Amateurs.
Durga, looking for her maiden win on the tour, had three birdies and no bogeys. She birdied second and fifth on the front nine, and had a birdie on 12th on the back nine.
Seher, who has also been playing in events in Europe and is due to play in Singapore Ladies Masters next month, had one birdie against two bogeys on front nine.
She bounced back with three birdies in a row from 11th to 13th and added yet another one on 18th to make it to 69.
Kriti had two birdies on both halves of the course and dropped just one shot on seventh.
Sachika had a double on fourth and a bogey on fifth to be 3-over after five holes. She came back well with a birdie on seventh, and then had four more between 10th and 14th to be the fifth player under par on the first day.
Tvesa had two late bogeys on 16 and 17 in her 72, while Sneha had six birdies, four bogeys and a double in her even par card. (PTI)
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