Gaurika cards modest even-par 72 but still maintains lead by one shot

Gaurika Bishnoi carded a modest even par 72 that reduced her lead from three shots to one at the end of the second day of the eighth leg Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour.

The second day belonged to Trisha Sunil, who played a fine back nine enroute to 3-under 69 that saw her leap to second place, one shot behind Gaurika at Clover Greens here.

Gaurika (69-72) is three-under 141, while Trisha (73-69) is two-under 142. Amandeep Drall (72-71) dropped from sole second to third at one-under 143.

Smriti Mehra (74-70) and Suchitra Ramesh (74-70) were tied at fourth place at even par 144.

Gaurika, who showed great form on the first day, opened well with a birdie on second but then ran into some problems in the middle of the front nine with bogeys on sixth and eighth. Two birdies against one bogey on the back nine meant she finished with an even par 72.

Trisha opened and closed the day with a birdie and had three more in between against two bogeys in the round. That helped her improve from sole fourth to sole second. Adding to the drama will be Amandeep Drall, who shot one-under 71.

Interestingly, all three players in the final group are under par and showing consistent form, which means there will be a keen tussle for the honours on the final day.

The second day saw some good scoring as no less than four players broke par and Gaurika shot par. The top five players are par or better, indicating some good play and a lot of birdies at the immaculate Clover Greens.

The third and final round will see Gaurika, Trisha and Amandeep go out in the last grouping. The first to see action tomorrow will be Sonam Chugh (158), Ayesha Kapur (156) and Millie Saroha (155) and they will be followed by Gursimar Badwal (154), Afshan Fatima and Anisha Padukone (153).

The third group will comprise Tvesa Malik (152), Siddhi Kapoor and Khushi Khanijau (150). The penultimate threesome will see Neha Tripathi (148), Suchirtra Ramesh (144) and Smriti Mehra (144).