Augusta (Georgia), Apr 1 (Golf News) Avani Prashanth will become the first Indian woman golfer to play a competitive round at the fabled Augusta National Golf Club after making the cut for the amateur event here.

The Indian teenager shot rounds of 76-73 in difficult conditions at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. She then waited to see if she made the cut as play on the second day was interrupted due to inclement weather.

When play ended in second round she was T-21 after 36 holes, while Indian-American Megha Ganne (73-80) missed the cut. Ganne hit headlines in US Women’s Open, where she was the top amateur after being among contenders for a while.

Lying T-26 when play was suspended after her two rounds, she had to wait overnight for others to finish to see if she would be among top-30 from a field of 72 who started at the Champions Retreat.

The Top-30 make the cut for the final round, which is to be played on Saturday at the Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the 86th Masters next week.

When second play finally ended Avani moved up to T-21 and easily made the cut, which was a sigh of relief.

“I came here to do well and this is the first step. I have one more round at the famous Augusta and I am excited,” said Avani, who is using a caddie introduced to her by Swedish pro Henrik Norlander, a friend of Anirban Lahiri.

Avani shot 76 in the first round with three birdies against seven bogeys and was T-39. In the second round she played some great golf finishing 1-over for the day. She had three birdies and two bogeys and a double bogey.

She missed two other birdies on Hole 8 and 9. The Birdies came on first, third and fifth with the putt on first coming from 25 ft.

On Hole 3, a par 5, she hit her second shot to the green after a fantastic drive of 265 yards and she two-putted for a birdie. Hole 5 was a great approach to 8 feet and she converted it for a birdie.

She started the second round from 10th, and the bogeys came on Hole 13, a double on the 16th and a bogey on the 4th.

Her tee time for the second round was 7.30 am but finally teed off at 3 pm. It was a good end to a round that needed a lot of determination in tough conditions.

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur is a 54-hole stroke play that features 72 of the top women amateurs from around the world. 

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News Source : PTI