Singapore, Mar 9 (PTI) Nishna Patel carded a one-under 71 to emerge as the best-placed Indian at tied 11th place but Avani Prashanth walked off with a one-over 73 to lie tied 21st after the opening day of the fifth Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) Championship here on Thursday.

Nishna, playing her third WAAP Championship, showed that she is steadily learning as she controlled herself despite a bunch of lip-outs. She was four shots behind the leader Korean Kim Minsol, whose 67 included an eagle and a double bogey besides five birdies.

Avani, the lanky 16-year-old, who had to go straight into a school examination after returning victorious from the Queen Sirikit Cup in Manila, had barely touched a club in more than a week.

Though she did practise a little, the rust showed as her usual touch on the putting green was missing at the Singapore Island Country Club course.

Avani’s playing partner Kim, the World No. 14, took the first round lead, while the third player in the group, Japan’s Rin Yoshida, the highest-ranked player at No. 4, struggled to 3-over-par 75.

Three players, Ni Zixin of China, Thailand’s little-known Navaporn Soontreeyapas and Hong Kong’s Sophie Han were tied second with cards of 4-under 68 each.

Among the Indians, behind the 11th placed Nishna Patel and 21st placed Avani, was the US-based Anika Varma (74), who after being one-under through 12 holes, dropped three shots in last six holes. Anika was tied 28th.

The other three Indians were Mannat Brar (76) at T-53rd, Vidhatri Urs (77) at T-60 and Lavanya Jadon (78) at T-64.

Chinese Taipei’s Ting-Hsuan Huang, the defending champion, also shot a two-under-par 70.

China’s Yujie Liu, the youngest player in the championship at 12-years old, was the only player to play a bogey free 70 to be tied eighth.

Source: PTI News