Melbourne, Jan 16 (PTI) Avani Prashanth picked two birdies against one lone bogey towards the end of her first nine, to be 1-under 72 and finish tied seventh after the first round of the Australian Amateur Championships.

Avani, the runner-up at the Australian Masters of Amateurs last week, is three shots behind leader Aina Fujimoto (69) at 4-under here at Keysborough Golf Club.

Sandeep Yadav, the 2023 Indian National champion, opened with a steady start of 1-under 71 as the Indian Golf Union’s team had mixed results on the first day.

The players are competing at two courses, with the par at the Keysborough Golf Club for women being par-73 and for men, par-72.

At Yarra Yarra, it is par-70 both men and women.

It is one of the most prestigious amateur events wherein both men and women play together.

Among women, four players including last week’s winner Rianne Mikhaela Malixi were tied second at three-under each. Amelia Whinney is sole sixth and four players including Avani are tied at seventh.

The leader in the men’s section was Australia’s Kai Komulainen, who shot 6-under 64 at Yarra Yarra and led by one over Mitchell Kale of New Zealand, who carded 5-under 67 at Keysborough.

Among the other Indians playing in Australia this week, Heena Kang with 78 was tied-60 in women’s section while in the men’s section Varun Muthappa (74) was tied-83 and Rohit Narwal (78) was tied-165.

Avani, starting from the tenth, birdied the par-3 15th and added a second bridie on par-5 17th but dropped a shot on par-5 18th.

On her second nine — the front side of the course — she parred each of the nine holes.

Yadav opened the week with a birdie on the 10th, where he started, and added one more on 13th.

However, a double bogey on par-4 16th and a bogey on par-4 18th with a birdie in between on par-5 17th saw him turn in even par.

On the second nine, he birdied the first but dropped shots on second and fifth while closing with back-to-back birdies.

Source: PTI News