Pranavi bounces back to get into three-way lead

Amateur Pranavi Urs bounced back from her first round 75 and early reverses to shoot one-under 69 in the second round of the second leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday.

Pranavi, who was way down in the tied-seventh place after the first day, now shares the lead with overnight leaders Tvesa Malik and Ananya Datar, who shot three-over 73 each at the Par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club layout.

As Tvesa dropped two shots on the back nine and Ananya dropped one, Pranavi picked three in the first four holes of the back nine. In all, she had four birdies in a six-hole run from eighth to the 13th.

Earlier, Pranavi double-bogeyed the par-4 third and bogeyed the par-5 fourth to go eight-over for the tournament at that stage. The four birdies later on brought her back into the fight for the title, as she is now four-over 144.

Tvesa opened with a bogey on par-5 first, but recovered with a birdie on second. There were no more birdies and she dropped shots on seventh, 15th and 18th in her 73.

Ananya had three bogeys on third, seventh and 14th and no birdies in her card of 73.

Afshan Fatima opened and finished with a birdie and in between bogeyed the fourth hole to record 69, only the second under-par round so far this week. She is fourth, while Oviya Reddi (76-72) with two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey was fifth at eight-over 148.

Trimann Saluja (74-75) and Neha Tripathi (72-77) were tied-sixth while Gaurika Bishnoi (78-72), despite three birdies between the seventh and the 10th, was eighth at 150.

Amateur Ivana Shah (77-74), Khushi Khanijau (79-72) and Siddhi Kapoor (74-77) were Tied-ninth at 151.

On the final day, the lead trio of Tvesa Malik, Ananya Datar and Pranavi Urs start in the leader group with a one-shot lead over fourth placed Afshan Fatima, setting the stage for an exciting finish to the second leg.