Galgorm (Northern Ireland), Aug 18 (PTI) Indian golfer Diksha Dagar in the women’s section and Manu Gandas in the men’s category were off to fine starts in the first round of the ISPS HANDA World Invitational Presented by AVIV Clinics.
The left-hander Diksha shot 1-under 71 to be tied-13th on a crowded leaderboard, while Gandas carded a brilliant 5-under 67 and was tied second with three others.
The event here is tri-sanctioned by the DP World Tour (DPWT), Ladies European Tour (LET) and LPGA Tour, with the men’s and women’s tournaments being played on the same course at the same time and having equal prize funds of $1.5m.
Dan Brown took advantage of favourable weather conditions to post an opening seven-under-par round of 64 at Castlerock Golf Club to lead the field.
In the women’s section, four players — Switzerland’s Kim Metraux, England’s Gabriella Cowley, Sweden’s Ellinor Sudow and Australia’s Karis Davidson — fired rounds of 69 (-4) to be out in the front.
Diksha birdied the first, ninth, 10th and 15th but dropped shots on the eighth and 11th and double-bogeyed the Par-3 16th in her 71 for the day.
Her score was creditable considering the course was playing tough, but still 31 players shot 1-under or better. There were 20 players at 1-under and Diksha was one of them.
Gandas, a product of the DLF Golf Academy in Gurugram, was an early starter. He birdied four times in the first seven holes and had two more on the 15th and 18th for one of his best starts of the season.
In the women’s section, Metraux dropped just one shot on her card and rolled in five birdies, while England’s Cowley got off to a solid start making birdies on the third, eighth, 10th and 11th holes.
One shot further back of the four leaders are France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora, Wales’ Chloe Williams, England’s Bronte Law and Sweden’s Daniela Holmqvist, all on three-under-par.
Source: PTI News
