Rising golfer Tvesa Malik moved into joint lead with Siddhi Kapoor after the second round of the 12th leg of the Hero Women's Pro tour at the picturesque Delhi Golf Club here on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Tvesa and Siddhi, who is still two months away from her 20th birthday, carded 73 each to move to five-over 147 and jointly top the list.
Saaniya Sharma, winner of the 11th leg, and veteran Smriti Mehra, made a whopping 11-shot improvement on their first round scores to bring in 71 each, as against 82 in the first round. Also sharing the third place with them was Gursimar Badwal (77), at 153 the trailing trio was six shots behind the leading duo.
Tvesa may well have been in the sole lead but for a crippling triple bogey on par-3 seventh hole and another bogey on eighth. She turned in three-over 39, but on the back nine she was error free with two birdies on the 10th and 12th holes and the rest were pars for 34.
Siddhi dropped a bogey each on sixth and seventh and another on 11th against birdies on ninth and tenth during her 73.
The day's best cards came from Smriti and Saaniya, whose 71 each have been the only sub-par rounds so far in the tournament. Smriti had three birdies, all in the last six holes against two bogeys, while Saaniya had three birdies and one double on par-4 fourth.
Afshan Fatima, one of the three co-leaders after the first round, faltered in the second with a 80 that saw her drop to 10-over 154 and sixth place.
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Mehar Atwal (79-78) and Gaurika Bishnoi (77-80) were tied seventh, while Trisha Sunil (82-79) was ninth and Ankita Tiwana (83-81) was 10th.
In the final round, Tvesa and Siddhi will play alongside the seasoned Smriti in the final group, while the second to last group will see Saaniya with Gursimar and Afshan.
--IANS
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