Pedersen keeps lead; amateur Aditi still top Indian

Denmark's Emily Kristine Pedersen kept her nose ahead despite one-over 73, while amateur Aditi Ashok shot one-over 73 and at four-over 148 was the top Indian at tied 11th at the Hero Women's Indian Open here today.
While Aditi was the best Indian performer at tied 11th, Vani Kapoor (79-73) in tied 27th, Saaniya Sharma (79-75) in tied 44th and Smriti Mehra (77-79) in tied-57th were the other three Indians to make the cut.
However, Sharmila Nicollet (78-81) missed the cut.
Pedersen, 19, a front runner for the Rookie of the Year award, is now one-under 143 after 36 holes and looks at her maiden Ladies European Tour title after two seconds and two other top-10 finishes in her Rookie season.

At 143, she was also the only player under par in the field as the conditions were rather warm today at the challenging Black Knight Course at DLF Golf and Country Club.
Giulia Sergas, who had one-under 71 on first day, was one-over at the 18th tee, before disaster struck and she gave away a triple bogey 'eight' and from second position dropped to ninth on the leaderboard. She is now three-over.

Aditi, who was tied fourth in 2012 and tied 13th last year, said she was looking for another strong finish tomorrow.
"I don't want to set any targets, but just play as well as I can," said the Bengaluru girl.

"I played steady after starting from the back nine. I had bogeys on 13th and 14th but recovered with a birdie on par-5 15th and then parred the last three on the back nine. It was nice to come out with pars on that tough stretch after a double on 18th on first day," she added.
On the second nine, she bogeyed the par-5 fourth, but got a birdie on par-5 eighth.
"All in all, a decent day and I want to keep the momentum going," she said.
Pedersen's nearest rival was Wales' Becky Morgan, who shot 71 to lie just one behind heading into the final round, with Denmark's Malene Jorgensen third on one over.