Kolkata: Amandeep Drall had two contrasting streaks in her second round but still managed the day’s best card of 1-over 71 that extended her lead to five shots with one round to go at the Tollygunge Club.
On a difficult day for scoring, there were no under par scores and after 36 holes, only Amandeep is even par.
With 69-71 Amandeep is now even par 140 and five shots ahead of Seher Atwal, who added 73 to her first round 72. Seher was tied second with Khushi Khanijau (71-74) and Vani Kapoor (70-75).
Amandeep had a nightmarish start as she bogeyed second and third and double bogeyed fourth to be four-over after four holes. Another bogey on sixth meant she was five-over and staring at a disappointing card. A birdie on the ninth changed things as she birdied 11th, eagled the par-5 13th and birdied 15th to get to even par. A bogey on 17th did disappoint, but overall she had saved the day for herself.
Seher Atwal, winner of the opening leg this season, had a roller coaster ride with five birdies and eight bogeys and just five pars. She did not have a single par between ninth and 17th in an incredible streak which included six bogeys and three birdies. Earlier she had back-to-back bogeys on third and fourth and back-to-back birdies on sixth and seventh.
Khushi had two birdies against six bogeys, while Vani Kapoor had just one birdie and five bogeys.
Neha Tripathi (72-75) was sole fifth. She was hit by a triple bogey on Par-5 seventh as she shot 75.
Last week’s winner and runner-up Sneha Singh (76-72) and Jasmine Shekar (72-76) were tied sixth while Saaniya Sharma, Agrima Manral and amateur Janneya Dasanniee rounded off the eighth, ninth and tenth places respectively.
The cut fell at 16, with 19 professionals and 4 of the 6 amateurs going through to the final round.
–IANS