Rome, Jun 15 (PTI) Indian golfer Diksha Dagar made good use of a hat-trick of birdies at the start of the back nine to compile a solid 5-under 67 and be one shot behind the trio of leaders at the Ladies Italian Open.

After the opening day, Diksha trailed Australian Kirsten Rudgeley, Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, and Swiss Tiffany Arafi by one shot. The leaders shot 6-under 66 each on a sun-soaked Friday at Golf Nazionale.

Diksha at sole fourth was best among the five Indians in the field, while Vani Kapoor (72) was T-30, Pranavi Urs and Tvesa Malik with 73 each were T-41 and Ridhima Dilawari (75) was T-76.

Diksha, who had a rare missed cut at the Scandinavian Open Mixed last week, opened strongly on the tenth with birdies on her first three holes. She added a fourth on the par-4 16th to turn in 4-under. Two more birdies on the first and the third took her to six under.

A dropped shot on the par-4 fourth brought her back to 5-under and she closed with a series of five pars that saw her miss a couple of birdie chances.

This season Diksha has had two Top-10s and five other Top-25 finishes as against nine, including a win in Czech Ladies and third place in Hero Women’s Indian Open, last year.

Vani was also off to a strong start from the tenth as she birdied the 11th, 12th and the 13th, but then had five pars.

On her second nine, the front side of the famous Golf Nazionale, she bogeyed the first, third and fourth and fell to even par. A series of pars followed and she was even par 72 for the round.

Pranavi has three birdies against four bogeys and Tvesa had two birdies against three bogeys. Ridhima had two birdies and five bogeys.

Rudgeley set the early standard signing a bogey-free card which included a wonderful chip-in on the par-4 18th, which was her ninth hole. She is chasing a maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win.

Rudgeley was followed by Fernandez Cano moments later after the Spaniard bounced back brilliantly from a bogey on the par-4 1st to post seven birdies.

The duo was joined by Switzerland’s Arafi, who continued her excellent momentum having finished runner-up on the LET Access Series (LETAS) last week. All three players are yet to record a victory on the LET.

The bunched leaderboard saw the trio being chased by Diksha (67) and Czechia’s Sara Kouskova (68), who played together and were fourth and fifth respectively.

Six players share sixth on three-under par to round out the top-10.

Source: PTI News