On the first day of the USD 400,000 Hero Women's Indian Open, Amandeep Drall led the Indian assault with a bogey-free five under par 67 that tied her for third place.
Only 21 players out of a field of 114 finished below par, while Tvesa Malik finished in waning light to share seventh place as the second-best Indian with a three-under 69.
Aditi Ashok, the 2016 champion, finished T-11 with a two-under-par 70, while Gaurika Bishnoi finished T-16 with a one-under-par 71.
Linda Wessberg of Sweden, who shot a seven-under 65 to lead the field in the Ladies European Tour sanctioned event, was two shots ahead of Amandeep. The Frenchwoman Anais Meyssonnier was one shot in front of Amandeep (66).
“Everything was good as I expected it because I've been playing well of late,” said Drall, who added that she had benefitted from playing more on the LET.
“When you're playing more on the Ladies European Tour, the girls are so good, so you know every shot really matters. I was just in my zone today, really calm and composed, and I just took it one shot at a time. And it's three more rounds to go, so it's a long journey ahead." Tvesa started on the back nine and her lone mistake of the day was a double-bogey seven on the par-5 fifteenth.
She played flawlessly for the remainder of the round, but she admitted she had a lot of putts that she had missed. After the double, Tvesa rebounded with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes of the front nine, stating she needed to "make some putts as I am playing very early tomorrow." Even though it was getting dark, she went back to the practise putting green.
On her way back to the clubhouse, Tvesa would add three more shots to her total. Aditi Ashok, an LPGA regular and local favourite, started on the back nine as well. Before the turn, she combined two bogeys with three birdies and played steadily the rest of the way.
Aditi played steadily throughout her second nine, and her birdie on the par-4 seventh helped her finish strongly.
With the exception of the final hole, I believe I hit nearly every fairway today. I also only missed three greens, which was a respectable performance. But I missed a few putts that were inside of 10 feet," she said.
Nishtha Madan, from the US, and Vani Kapoor tied for 23rd place on level par 72, while Seher Atwal, Hitaashee Bakshi, Pranavi Urs, and Diksha Dagar shared 35th place on one-over 73s. Gaurika Bishnoi also got off to a slow start with a 71.
