Seddiner See (Germany), May 15 (PTI) The Olympic-bound Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs will spearhead a huge Indian contingent of seven players, including one amateur, as they tee off in the Amundi German Masters here from Thursday.
The Ladies European Tour (LET) is back in Europe and in Germany as a field of 132 players from 35 nations will engage in a 72-hole stroke play competition with a cut coming in for top 60 professionals and ties after the second round.
Olympic-bound Diksha Dagar, Pranavi Urs, Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor, and Amandeep Drall will be joined by Sneha Singh, who has received an invitation and amateur Avani Prashanth who is also among the 11 invites to the event.
Diksha will try and make amends for 2023, when she led in the event before three bogeys around the turn on the final day saw her drop to third. It was one of the two third places she had in 2023 – the other being at her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open.
She also won the Czech Ladies Open, which she will defend next month. Vani Kapoor and amateur Avani had also made the cut in 2023.
This year the Indian challenge is bolstered by Pranavi Urs, who last week was tied seventh at Aramco Series Korea, where Diksha was T-37.
Amandeep Drall, who lost her card last season, will make her first start on LET this season, while Tvesa Malik, who also lost her LET card last year, will be making only her third LET start in 2024.
Her earlier two starts came in South Africa, courtesy her showing on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, where she also had a win this season.
Diksha will play her first round with Sophie Witt of Germany and Klara Davidson Spilkova of Czech Republic and they tee off from the first.
The only other Indian playing in the morning wave will be Tvesa Malik from the tenth tee alongside Swiss golfer, Tiffany Arafi and Mexico’s Fernanda Lira. The other five Indians are all drawn to play in the afternoon.
Czechia’s Kristyna Napoleaova is the defending champion having defeated England’s Cara Gainer in a playoff last year with both players returning to tee it up.
The field includes two former Order of Merit winners with reigning Race to Costa del Sol champion Trichat Cheenglab alongside South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace.
Four winners from the 2024 LET season will be vying to add another title with England’s Bronte Law (Lalla Meryem Cup), Alexandra Försterling (Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Tampa), Mariajo Uribe (Women’s NSW Open) and Manon De Roey (Investec SA Women’s Open) all in town.
It is a return to the LET for Försterling for the first time since her victory in Tampa and the German star, who is from Berlin, is also the top-ranked player in the field sitting at 71 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
Försterling is one of 11 home stars in the field.
The three amateurs teeing it up this week include the 17-year-old Avani Prashanth, the youngest player in the field.
Source: PTI News
