Diksha Dagar opens with top 10 placing at Czech Ladies Open

Pranavi Urs on her way into shared 14th place on the opening day of the Czech Ladies Open in Beroun on Friday. Image courtesy let.com.

By Rahul Banerji

Diksha Dagar carried her fine recent form into the first day of the Czech Ladies Open in Beroun on Friday, finishing in a share of ninth place.

Coming off a top three placing at last week’s Dutch Ladies Open, the left-hander returned a 6 under par 66, three shots behind leade, Lydia Hall, who shot a career-low 9 under 63 on the day.

Pranavi Urs was the next best, sharing 14th place on 5 under 67, followed closely by Vani Kapoor at 4 under 68 and a T26 placing. 

Hitaashee Bakshi’s 1 under 71 saw her at T76, Ridhima Dilawari had a 1over 73 for T112 while Avani Prashanth, who was alongside Diksha last week, had a difficult first day for a 3 over 75 down in shared 123rd.

Diksha’s opening round included eight birdies against two bogeys. She began with four consecutive gains from hole 2 but gave one back on nine.

An early bogey on the back nine was nullified by three birdies over the last four holes including gains on 17 and 18.

Positive mix

Pranavi made six birdies and one bogey be just a shot shy of the top 10, coming into the week after her T5 at the Dutch Ladies Open. 

Vani (68) opened strongly with five birdies and one bogey, Hitaashee had two bogeys and three birdies, Ridhima (73) dropped three shots against two gains and Avani (75) managed just one birdie.

Making her 292nd start on the Ladies European Tour, Lydia Hall (63) put together the low score of her career to lead Blanca Fernandez, Vanessa Knecht and Esme Hamilton by one shot with eight birdies, a bogey and an eagle.

“It was just a solid performance,” the 18-year LET veteran from Wales whose sole victory came in 2012 said on the Tour website.

“I got off to a nice start hitting a really close shot to 12-feet. Unfortunately I missed that but from then on I gave myself some nice chances coming in and holed some nice putts. 

“All round, if you’re shooting that, everything was pretty good today.

“As a player, I think mentally I’ve grown massively over the last three or four years. I’ve worked more on the psychology side of things and I’d say my game is probably better than it’s ever been.”

Also read: Top-three finishes by Diksha and Avani at Dutch Ladies Open

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