Marrakech (Morocco), Dec 17 (PTI) Pranavi Urs gave her hopes of getting into the Ladies European Tour full-time a big boost as she began with a 5-under 68 in round one of the LET Final Stage Q-School event at the Al Maaden Golf Marrakech course.

Pranavi, who played on the Epson Tour in the US in 2023, made a superb recovery after being two-over through four holes following bogeys on the third and the fourth.

With five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 seventh, she rose to tied-seventh with four rounds to go on Saturday.

After a par-par start, Pranavi suffered back-to-back bogeys to go 2-over after four.

She rallied from there with back-to-back birdies on fifth and sixth, followed by an eagle on seventh and then again back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth for a 4-under 32 on the front nine.

She added one more birdie on the back on 11th and parred the rest for a round 67.

Mexican Fernanda Lira produced a sensational opening round of 62 (-11) at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech to lead the Final Qualifier by three shots. She had two eagles and seven birdies in her round.

Apart from Pranavi, the other Indians had a modest start. The next best was Ridhima Dilawari (74 at Al Maaden) in T-69 with Vani Kapoor (74 at Royal Golf de Marrakech) in T-69.

Two other Jasmine Shekar (75 at Al Maaden), Tvesa Malik (74 at Royal Golf de Marrakech) were T-88.

Amandeep Drall (75), Avani Prashanth (75) and Neha Tripathi (75) playing at Al Maaden were T-106, while Seher Atwal (77 at Royal Golf de Marrakech) was T-131.

Durga Nittur (80) and Ananya Datar (80) at Royal Golf de Marrakech were T-147 and Sneha Singh (83 at Al Maaden) was T-151.

The event is being played over two courses, the Par-72 Royal Golf De Marrakech and the Par-73 Al Maaden Golf Marrakech.

All players will play both courses twice each and then the Top-65 and ties will play the final round from where the Top-20 and ties get a full card for 2024.

Lira, 28, set a women’s course record at Al Maaden with a total of 11-under-par and holds a three-shot lead at the end of the first day.

Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes and Slovenia’s Ana Belac sit in a share of second place after they both carded rounds of 65 (-8) at Al Maaden.

Spain’s Teresa Diez Moliner and Finland’s Linda Osala are in a tie for fourth place on seven-under-par with England’s Amy Taylor one shot further back in sixth place – the trio played at Al Maaden.

Six players are in a share of seventh place with Aunchisa Utama, Pranavi Urs, Nataliya Guseva, Shannon Tan, Florentyna Parker and Lakareber Abe all on five-under-par.

Source: PTI News