Eager to shake off string of runner-up finishes, Seher makes the charge

Seher Atwal - TheGolfingHub
Seher Atwal, who was the runner-up in the eighth and ninth legs of the HWPGT, had a slow start but gathered pace as Round 2 progressed on Thursday.

Seher Atwal, determined to end her run of runner up finishes, played a fine back nine and carded 2-under 70 to edge past overnight co-leader Neha Tripathi (71) in the 10th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Prestige Golfshire course.

Sneha Singh, playing only her second tournament as a professional, shot a second straight 71 and was placed third at 2-under 142, while Nayanika Sanga also shot 1-under 71 to be fourth at 1-under 143 for two rounds.

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

Pranavi Urs made some amends for her first round of 76 with a 3-under 69 that saw her rise to fifth place at 1-over 145, but still five shots behind the leader Seher.

Seher, who was the runner-up in the eighth and ninth legs of the Hero WPG Tour, had a slow start with one birdie against two bogeys for 1-over in the front nine, while Neha had one birdie and one bogey to get into sole lead.

On the back nine, Seher birdied three times on 11th, 14th and 15th and had no bogeys while Neha also had no bogeys but only one birdie on the 18th. That handed Seher a morale boosting one-shot lead going into the final round.

Sneha had back-to-back birdies on third and fourth and then back-to-back bogeys on seventh and eighth to turn in even par. On the back nine she birdied 10th, and then had eight straight pars to finish at 71.

Nayanika had three birdies on front nine and one double bogey on back nine.

Pranavi birdied first, seventh, 16th and 18th and dropped just one shot on Par-4 fourth as she played steady through the day.

Gaurika Bishnoi, following her first round 73 with another similar card, was sixth while Hitaashee Bakshi ((76-71), Jyotsana Singh (76-71), Gauri Karhade (73-74) and amateur Vidhatri Urs (71-76) were all tied for seventh.