Melbourne, Jan 11 (PTI) India’s Avani Prashanth braved a tough round three to hang onto the shared second place on the third day of the Australian Masters of Amateurs tournament in Southern Golf Club here Thursday.

Avani, who shared the second place with two others at 3-under 143 for two rounds at the Par-73 course, was four shots behind the new leader, Lion Higo from Gold Coast, Australia.

Higo, who plays US College golf in Pepperdine, played rounds of 71-71-70 Avani, ranked 50th in the world, and one of the top contenders for the title shot 77 on this day, but still managed to be in second place with Rianne Malixi of the Philippines, who shot 1-over 74.

Malixi rose from third to tied second at 3-under 143.

The third player in the tie for second place was the leader of the first two rounds – Nika Ito of Japan who crashed to 5-over 78.

She had rounds of 68-70 on the first two days.

Needing a fast charge to make a bid for the lead, Avani struggled early with bogeys on the first and third and she became 3-over after six holes.

Things turned worse with a fourth bogey on 12th. She attempted a comeback with two birdies on 13th and the 15th but two bogeys on the 14th and 18th saw her finish the day at 4-over 77.

Overall, the Indian amateur star played well, but was unable to keep the momentum going despite some excellent play on the first two days.

She has another round to try to add to her international laurels.

Heena Kang had a rough international debut as she ended with a final round of 83 and missed the cut, which was applied after three days.

The top-33 and ties will play the fourth and final round.

Among men, Rohit Narwal shot 73 after 76-70 and missed the cut as did Sandeep Yadav (84-74-75).

The Top-45 and ties will play the final round in the men’s section.

The lead in the men’s section was shared by Scotland’s Oliver with Mukherjee (69-70-66) and Max Moring (67-67-71) at 11-under 205.

New Zealand’s Zackary Swanwick (67-67-72) was lying third at 10-under 206.

Source: PTI News