Bogey free round gives Seher two-shot lead in first leg of Hero WPGT 2023

Pune, Jan 12:Seher Atwal fired a bogey-free round of 3-under 68 to get into sole lead in the opening leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2023 at the Poona Club Golf Course. Seher, who had three birdies, took a two-shot lead over the first round leader Shagun Narain (71-73). Seher, with birdies on the fourth, ninth and 14th, is now even par 142 while Shagun is 2-over 144. Lying in third place was Ridhima Dilawari (75-71) as she recovered from a disappointing opening round. Ridhima was 4-over 146.

Neha Tripathi tripped in the second round with a triple bogey and a double bogey in a card of 6-over 77 that dropped her to fourth place, down from tied second. Seher, who has been showing consistent progress in her game, had a win last season and before that she won at the same course in Pune in 2021. That was the last time the Poona Golf Club hosted a Hero WPGT event. Seher, the only Indian golfer to get a status onto the Ladies European Tour through the Qualifying School this year, was second on the Hero Order of Merit in 2022. Seher is hoping to get some starts alongside Diksha Dagar (54th), the only Indian in LET’s Top-60 in 2022, Vani Kapoor (63rd) and Amandeep Drall (66th), who were just outside Top-60 last year.

Shagun had two bogeys against no birdies on the front nine, and then had two each of birdies and bogeys on the back nine. Ridhima had three birdies against one double bogey and one bogey. Four players including amateur Vidhatri Urs were tied for fifth at 9-over 151. They were Gauri Karhade (78-73), Ananya Datar (76-75) and Sneha Singh (75-76). Sneha also had a quadruple bogey eight on Par-4 third hole. Amateur Lavanya Jadon (76-76) was ninth and Nayanika Sanga (73-80), dropped from tied second to 10th.

Seher, who had 3-over 74 on the first day, put herself in the driver’s seat to grabbing an early win that will put her in a fine frame of mind ahead of the LET season, which she hopes to start at the Magical Kenya Open next month. Seher will go out in the leader group alongside Ridhima and Shagun in the final round. The 36-hole cut fell at 160 and prominent players missing out included Anisha Agarwalla and Suchitra Ramesh.