Chennai, Jan 20 (IANS) Bakshi sisters, Jahanvi and Hitaashee, took centre stage on the first day of the second leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour as they occupied the top spots after the first round here on Wednesday.
Jahanvi, still looking for her first professional win, carded the day’s best of three-under 69 while her younger sister, who logged her breakthrough win in December, carded one-under 71 to be tied second alongside Neha Tripathi, whose effort indicated a welcome return to form.
Pointing to the growing depth in Indian women’s golf, there were two amateurs in the bunch of five players who shot even par 72 to be tied-fourth at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course. The five were Pranavi Urs, runner-up last week in Bengaluru, Khushi Khanijau, Ananya Datar, and amateurs Sneha Singh, already a winner on the pro Tour, and Avani Prashanth.
Vani Kapoor and Oviya Reddi carded 73 each to complete the top10.
Jahanvi, who inspired her younger sibling Hitaashee to take up golf, showed no indication of a blistering round as she was two-over through seven holes with bogeys on second and sixth. Then she exploded into superb form with birdies on eighth and ninth to make the turn in even par.
On the back nine, Jahanvi added birdies on 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th to get to four-under before a bogey on the closing 18th saw her finish the day at 69. Till then, Hitaashee was holding the lead with a 71 that had three birdies, one of them on closing 18th, and two bogeys.
A group later, Neha Tripathi, who has not tasted victory since the first leg of the 2019 season, joined Hitaashee in shared second place.
Amandeep Drall and Saaniya Sharma scored 74 each to be tied-11th.
There were two eagles on the day, one each by Seher Atwal and Rhea Jha, both of whom shot 75 to be tied-13th alongside last week’s winner, Ridhima Dilawari, who had a rough day, and Shweta Mansingh.
The second day shall see a rare and interesting sight with sisters Jahnavi and Hitaashee grouped together and they play with the experienced Neha Tripathi.
–IANS
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