Gurugram, Oct 11 (PTI) India’s Hitaashee Bakshi registered a third straight under-par round at the Hero Women’s Indian Open to open up a three-shot lead after the third round of the tournament, here Saturday.
The only player with three under-par rounds this week, Hitaashee has shot 70-67-70 and is 9-under 207 for 54 holes.
The 21-year-old, who has never finished in the Top-10 of an LET event, is three shots clear of the three-time LET winner England’s Alice Hewson (69-72-69), who is at 6-under 210.
Pranavi Urs (72-67-73) is third at 4-under, while rookie Avani Prashanth (73-71-70), who in 2023 was Tied-fifth as an amateur, is at Tied-fourth.
Alongside Avani are four others, including amateur Zara Anand, who after being 4-over on Saturday through the first six holes, also finished at 4-over to stay in the hunt.
Pranavi, who was 5-under and Tied-fourth after the second day, shot 73 but still moved up to sole third.
Avani, Tied-14th after day 2, shot 2-under 70 which was steady and unhurried with three birdies against one bogey. She moved up to Tied-fourth, seven behind leader Hitaashee.
Avani will need a fast start and some help from those ahead of her to make a bid for her maiden title.
There were more Indians close by as Vani Kapoor, the first-round leader, shot 74 and was Tied-ninth at 1-under 215 and Amandeep Drall (72), who was joint runner-up in 2022, was T-12 at even par 216.
After a rather steady 2-under 70 on the first day and a bogey-free 67 on the second, Hitaashee kept her nerves and confidence even as her fortunes ebbed and flowed through the day.
“It’s good, like I said I don’t really think that much. I’m just going one shot at a time. It’s my home course, no pressure. So just go out and play,” Hitaashee said.
“It was exhausting in the back nine because the rough really did get off me and there was like birdie-bogie, birdie-boogie pattern that started following, but I’m really glad that I followed it all through the end.” The lead, which was one stroke at the start of the day, swelled to as much as six and it seemed Hitaashee was running away.
She opened with a birdie and added a second gain on the fifth to stretch her lead. Then came a double bogey, but Hitaashee showed great grit and fought back with birdies on the 9th, 10th and the 12th.
The bumpy ride continued as she bogeyed the 14th and birdied the 15th before she dropped a shot yet again on the 17th.
Her lead, which was once six, was now down to three as Alice Hewson, playing two groups ahead, birdied 17-18 to quickly climb to 6-under.
On the 18th, Hitaashee had a tough chip and even the smallest of mistakes by her would have meant the lead being further reduced.
The chip had even the spectators gasping but Hitaashee very skilfully kept the ball on land and put the ball three feet from the pin on the challenging 18th, and parred the hole for a round of 70, which started with a roaring birdie and ended with a par that elicited an even louder roar.
Pranavi admitted to a struggle, as she said, “I didn’t hit the ball well or putt well. But I think with all that I was pretty calm out there and then I was patient. It felt like a lot more, but one-over was pretty good with the way I played.” Hewson was pleased with her show, which included a stretch of eight holes without a par.
Of the dozen Indians who made the cut, six were in Top-12, while the others were Ridhima Dilawari (76) and Durga Nittur (78) at T-43, Jahanvi Bakshi (79) and Jasmine Shekar (79) at T-55, Tvesa Malik (79) at T-60 and Diksha Dagar (79) at T-63rd. PTI AT AM AT AM AM
