Gurugram, Sep 24 (IANS) An action-packed round, which had six birdies and an eagle, carried rookie professional Anvvi Dahiya to the top of the leaderboard in the 13th Leg of the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
The 18-year-old Gurugram golfer, playing in her hometown, bounced back from a disappointing first round of 78 and carded a 5-under 67 on the second day. It was the only under-par round of the day.
The 11-shot improvement took her to a 1-over total of 145, and she was ahead of experienced campaigners like Vani Kapoor (73-73) and Ridhima Dilawari (75-72), who were second and third. Ridhima was one of the only two players to get a par or better in the second round.
Anvvi, who is with the DLF Golf Academy, turned professional earlier this year after a stellar junior and amateur career during which she won the 2022 DGC Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship at just 14 years old.
She has in the past finished runner-up on the WPGT, but is now looking at a breakthrough win in her fledgling pro career. She was joint runner-up in the ninth leg this season alongside Amandeep Drall and behind the winner, Vani Kapoor, at Clover Greens in Hosur.
Starting from the first, Anvvi had three birdies on the third, fourth and the sixth. She dropped a double bogey on the seventh, but then eagled the eighth to get back to 3-under. On the back nine, she had three birdies against one bogey for a 67.
Tvesa Malik (74-74) and Nayanika Sanga (74-74) are tied for fourth place, while Lavanya Jadon (74-76) is sixth.
Overnight leader, Vidhatri Urs, had a big drop as she shot 82 after a first-round 69 and slipped to seventh place, while Jasmine Shekar also experienced a big dip from 71 to 81 and is now tied eighth with Kashika Misra (77-75). Diksha Dagar also had a rough day with an 81 after a first-round 72, and she tied 10th alongside amateurs Yogya Bhalla (77-76) and Anuradha Chaudhuri (78-75).
The cut fell at 164 and 41 players made the cut.
The contest to watch will be in the lead group as young Anvvi takes on the experienced Vani and Order of Merit leader Ridhima in the final group.
This is the last event before the Women’s Indian Open next month at the same venue.
–IANS
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