Amateur Golfers Zara and Lavanya Share Lead in Womens Pro Golf Tour

Bengaluru, June 17: Amateur golfer Zara Anand has made a remarkable start in the eighth leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, scoring 4-under 64 at the Bangalore Golf Club. She shares the lead with Lavanya Jadon, who recently participated in the Singapore Ladies Masters.

With a score of 4-under 64 on the par-68 course, the duo is one shot ahead of Durga Nittur and Smriti Bhargav, who both scored 3-under 65. Two other rising stars, Anvi Dahiya and amateur Mahreen Bhatia, are tied for fifth place with scores of 2-under 66. The event, featuring a prize pool of ₹17 lakh, began with 57 players, although Jahnvi Bakshi withdrew due to health reasons.

Zara started with three pars but stumbled with bogeys on the next two holes. She bounced back with consecutive birdies on the sixth and seventh holes, finishing the front nine at 1-under. Zara maintained her momentum with a birdie on the tenth hole and three more consecutive birdies from the 13th to the 15th holes. However, a late bogey on the 17th hole prevented her from taking the solo lead.

Lavanya also made a strong comeback on the back nine. After scoring 1-over on the front nine with a birdie on the fourth hole and bogeys on the next two, she excelled on the back nine with five birdies. Lavanya recorded three consecutive birdies from the 11th to the 13th holes, adding two more on the 16th and 17th to finish with a score of 64.

Durga Nittur had a solid front nine with three birdies but lost three shots on the back nine. At one point, she was 5-under and looked poised to lead, but consecutive bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes dashed her hopes. Smriti finished with a score of 65, featuring four birdies and one bogey. Mahreen made six birdies but also dropped shots on four holes, while Anvi Dahiya scored five birdies against three bogeys.

Mannat Barar, Karishma Govind, and amateur Ananya Sood are tied for seventh place with scores of 1-under 67, while Jasmine Shekhar, Kashika Mishra, Naynika Sanga, and Ayushi Dutta secured spots in the top 10 with even-par scores of 68.