Neha Tripathi’s bid to end title drought begins in right earnest

Neha Tripathi - TheGolfingHub
Neha Tripathi is seeking to end a title drought that has stretched since the first leg of 2019.

Neha Tripathi, who has not won on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour since the first leg of the 2019 season, had a share of the first round lead in the tenth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Prestige Golfshire. A card of 2-under 70 installed her as a co-leader with Seher Atwal.

Three players, amateur Vidhatri Urs, Sneha Singh and Ishvari Prasanna carded 1-under 71 each, while two other players, Nayanika Sanga and Shweta Mansingh scored even par 72 each to be tied sixth.

Gaurika Bishnoi, who had a triple bogey eighth on the Par-5 third and Ananya Datar were Tied-eighth with 73 each, while Saaniya Sharma and Gauri Karhade shot 2-over 74 each to be Tied-10th.

Neha, who has been playing off-and-on on the Ladies European Tour even as she has been working on her game to achieve consistency, had five birdies, on first, sixth, ninth, 11th and 16th and dropped shots on eighth, 13th and 15th.

 

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Seher, who won last year in Pune and was runner-up in her last two starts, also shot 70 despite suffering a double bogey on the Par-5 16th, which was her only blemish on the day. She had four birdies on first, sixth, 10th and 14th, at which point she was 4-under before the double bogey saw her drop.

Four-time winner this season, Pranavi Urs had a rough day as she had three double bogeys and a bogey against three birdies in a card of 4-over 76 that placed her T-13.

However, Pranavi has shown an ability to fight back over the last two days and this may well be yet another occasion.

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