Dundonald Links (Scotland), July 24 (IANS) India’s Diksha Dagar produced one of the grittiest rounds of the opening day at the Scottish Open, overcoming a disastrous start with a superb back-nine recovery to card a 2-over 74 and finish tied for 33rd after the first round.
On a windy day at Dundonald Links, where scoring proved difficult, Diksha looked set for a disappointing opening round before producing a remarkable turnaround. Six-over through 10 holes, she played her final eight holes in four-under with four birdies to haul herself back into contention for the weekend.
The 74 was a solid effort on a day when the course yielded only 13 sub-par rounds, while just seven players managed to finish at even par. With the cut to be decided after the second round, Diksha remains well placed to challenge for a weekend berth.
The 24-year-old, who has already registered four top-10 finishes on the Ladies European Tour this season, was comfortably the best-placed among the three Indians in the field.
Avani Prashanth endured a difficult day, returning an 8-over 80 to be tied for 116th alongside Women’s Indian Open champion Shannon Tan. Pranavi Urs suffered an even tougher outing, carding a 12-over 84 to lie tied for 138th after one of the highest rounds of the day.
At the top of the leaderboard, Korea’s Jenny Shin and American Lauren Coughlin shared the first-round lead after matching rounds of 6-under 66. Coughlin, who captured the Aramco Championship earlier this year, produced a flawless afternoon performance to join Shin at the summit.
Another Korean, A Lim Kim, occupied third place on her own at 5-under 67 after a round highlighted by three consecutive birdies on the 10th, 11th and 12th holes.
A group of four players shared fifth place on 3-under 69 — Germany’s Esther Henseleit, Japan’s Erika Hara and Miyu Yamashita, and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda opened with an even-par 72, the same score returned by Ireland’s Leona Maguire as several of the tournament favourites found scoring difficult in the challenging conditions.
Diksha’s scorecard told the story of two very different halves. She bogeyed the first, second and fourth holes before briefly stopping the slide with a birdie on the seventh. However, a costly triple bogey on the demanding par-4 eighth pushed her further back, and she reached the turn in five-over.
Another bogey on the 10th left her six-over for the day and staring at a potentially damaging opening round. Instead, the left-hander responded in impressive fashion. Birdies on the 11th and 14th sparked the comeback before she finished with successive birdies on the 17th and 18th to salvage a highly creditable 74.
–IANS
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