Gurugram, Sep 18 (IANS ) Hitaashee Bakshi’s brilliant front nine helped her overcome a lapse at the start of the back nine as she took a one-shot lead in the 12th Leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the DLF Golf & Country Club.
As Hitaashee shot 2-under 70, she was followed by amateur Lavanya Gupta and Pranavi Urs.
The top three had one double bogey each on a day when rain kept hindering play and made scoring difficult.
Hitaashee, who has two wins this season and leads the Hero Order of Merit, is one shot clear of amateur Lavanya and Vidhatri, who is looking for a fourth win in a row. Both Lavanya and Vidhatri carded one-under 71, as only five players shot even par or better.
Experienced Vani Kapoor and another amateur Keerthana Rajeev were tied for fourth place at even par 72.
Hitaashee birdied second, fifth, sixth and ninth to turn in 4-under 32. On the back nine she was hit by a double bogey on the 10th and a bogey on the 11th, but she stabilised with a series of pars and picked a late birdie on the Par-3 16th for a day’s card of 70.
Lavanya had five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey while Vidhatri also had five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey.
Vani Kapoor had birdies on first and fifth and bogeys on sixth and 10th and parred the rest for 72.
Keerthana was going great at 3-under through seven but a double bogey on par-5 eighth pulled her back. She recovered with birdies on the 10th and the 11th. Once again from 3-under, she dropped shots on 12th, 14th and the 18th and slipped to even par.
Four players including Sneha Singh and Gaurika Bishnoi besides Kriti Chowhan and amateur Janneya Dasannjee were tied for sixth place at one-over 73. Shweta Mansingh and Anvvi Dahhiya were tied for 10th place at 3-over 75 each.
Some of the bigger names had a rough ride on the opening day as Amandeep Drall (77) was T-14, Astha Madan (79) was T-20 and Neha Tripathi (83) was 32nd.