Amateurs Diksha Dagar and Ananya Barthakur held the spotlight in the 16th and final leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour at the Classic Golf & Country Club here today.
Diksha carded an eagle in both halves on her way to a superb six-under 66 that gave her a massive four-shot lead after the first round, while Ananya holed five birdies against three bogeys enroute to 70.
The best professional of the day was Neha Tripathi, who had contrasting front and back nines for a one-under 71.
Diksha began sedately with two pars and then eagled the par-5 third hole for a fine start. A birdie on fourth and eighth with a bogey in between on seventh saw her complete the front nine in three-under 33.
On the back, she holed a brilliant second shot for a second eagle, this time on the par-4 12th and played steady with pars on the next four holes. She added a final birdie on par-3 17th to finish with 66.
Ananya birdied the fourth and fifth before bogeying the sixth. She added a third birdie on seventh and turned in two- under 34. On the back nine, she birdied the 10th and 18th, but dropped shots on 12th and 17th for a back nine 36 and a total of 70.
Neha seemed to be in great form with three birdies in the first five holes, but a bogey on seventh set her back a bit. She made up quickly with a birdie on ninth and turned in at 33. On the back nine, Neha double bogeyed 10th, bogeyed the par-5 14th and then had four pars to finish at 71.
Gursimar Badwal shot level par to be fourth, while Hero Order of Merit leader Gaurika Bishnoi got off to an average start with one-over 73 and was lying fifth.
Amandeep Drall had a rough start with three bogeys in the first four holes as she carded 74 and was in sixth place.
Amandeep needs to win this week, and also hope that Gaurika does not finish higher than tied-fifth, if she wants to displace Gaurika from the top of the Order of Merit.
Saaniya Sharma (75) was seventh, while Siddhi Kapoor, Mehar Atwal and Ayesha Kapur shot 76 each to be tied-eighth.
In the second round, the top three -- Diksha, Ananya and Neha -- all of whom shot sub par scores, will go out last.
They will be preceded by Gursimar, Gaurika and Amandeep in the second last group.
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