Tampa (US), Mar 9 (PTI) Indian golfers Pranavi Urs and Diksha Dagar shot fine rounds of 5-under and 3-under to be placed Tied-5th and Tied-16th respectively on the first day of the Aramco Team Series at the Feather Sound Country Club here.
Coming off solid Top-10 finishes in Morocco in their previous outing, both the Indians were within striking distance of the leaders.
Pranavi, playing her rookie season, recorded a 5-under 67 but just one shot of the foursome pack of leaders at six-under.
Diksha, who began the day with a double bogey, picked up five birdies to finish at 3-under and was only three behind the leaders.
Wales’ Chloe Williams, Switzerland’s Kim Metraux, defending individual champion Carlota Ciganda of Spain and American Solheim Cup player Marina Alex is leading the field on six-under-par 66 each.
Team Roussin-Bouchard and Team Law are top of the pile in the team competition with a score of 18-under-par.
Pranavi, playing with Bronte Law, the former AIG Women’s Open winner, Sophia Popov and amateur Jim Boddy, also put herself in line for a team win.
Along with their amateur, they shared the lead in team standings with Team Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, the defending team champions, who had Celine Hebron, Meghan MacLaren and amateur LuJain Omar Khalil, as teammates.
The team event will finish on the second day and if Pranavi and her team win, she will emulate Diksha, who had won in the Aramco Series London two seasons ago.
Pranavi, winner of the Order of Merit on her home Tour in 2022 with five wins, starting on the 10th, parred her first three holes before stringing five birdies in a row and turned in 5-under 31. A sixth birdie on the first and yet another one on the fourth saw her rise to 7-under and into sole lead.
Then came the disappointment with a double bogey on the sixth, her 15th hole of the day. She ended at 5-under and one behind the leaders.
Pranavi, who fired an opening round of 67 (-5), said: “It definitely feels great to get off to a hot start and I feel like I’ve been doing that quite often for the past four rounds now, but I just couldn’t quite finish it.
“Five-under was not bad and I will take it. I was really good off the tee today and that put me in good position to get good approaches, except for one which caused a double, but apart from that I have been hitting it good and putting has been good too.” She was rather consistent throughout the day, missing the fairway only three times, but on two of those occasions she managed to par.
Also she missed the greens in regulation only twice and only once, on the fifth, it cost her dearly with double bogey. She needed 29 putts.
Diksha found every fairway but missed the greens in regulation on her last three holes, though she scrambled for pars each time. The start for a double was her only blemish.
“I started with a double bogey and then I had a bad bounce and went into the bunker. I couldn’t come on to the green. Then I four-putted. I didn’t think about that too much. I stayed calm and focused on every shot. I then gained very good momentum, and I had to fight for it. It was a good recovery and it turned out very well,” Diksha said.
“I’m going to focus on one shot at a time because it’s going to be a different game due to the weather change. I’m going to ensure that I’m playing a good game.” Among the leaders, Wales’ Williams went bogey-free, rolling in birdies on holes four, 10, 11 and 17 as well as a chip-in eagle on the 14th.
Source: PTI News
