Amateur Saanvi joins Vani in shared lead at 8th Leg of Hero WPGT

Bengaluru, Jun 5 (PTI) Local amateur Saanvi Somu, who has finished runner-up multiple times, put herself in joint pole position once again with a second straight one-under 69 in the 8th Leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club here on Thursday.

Saanvi, who was runner-up in the opening leg this season at Golmuri in Jamshedpur, shares the lead with Vani Kapoor (67-71) at two-under 138 for 36 holes.

Gaurika Bishnoi, playing only her fourth event this season, is sole third as she shot one-under 69 after a first round par 70. She is one-under 139. Gaurika’s last win came in the seventh leg of the 2024 season at Mysuru and she was runner-up in the fifth and sixth legs.

Teenager Saanvi has been consistently performing well. She has finished runner-up as many as four times without winning. This season she has been runner-up once and third on another occasion.

After a bogey on the Par-4 second, she played 10 pars in a row and then picked birdies on the 13th and the 14th and closed with four more pars.

Vani, who began the day as the sole leader at 3-under 67, dropped two shots early on the first and the third. A birdie on the Par-3 seventh was negated by a bogey on Par-4 11th. She picked another birdie on the par-4 16th before finishing 1-over 71 and a share of the lead at 2-under 138.

Gaurika birdied the first and the sixth but dropped a shot on the eighth to turn in 1-under. She birdied the 10th, bogeyed the 13th, and again birdied the 15th. She closed with a bogey on 18th and carded 69 to be sole third.

Another amateur Zara Anand (69-72) was tied fourth with Durga Nittur (68- 73) at 1-over 141, while Jasmine Shekar (73-69) and Seher Atwal (72-70) were tied sixth at 2-over 142.

Three players Vidhatri Urs (73-70), Rhea Purvi (73-70) and Ananya Garg (70-73) were tied eighth at 3-over 143, while three players Neha Tripathi (76-68), Khushi Khanijau (72-72) and Anvitha Narender (70-74) were tied 11th.

Last week’s winner Amandeep Drall (75-70) was Tied 14th with Agrima Manral and Disha Kavery.

The cut fell at 10-over 150 and 26 players made the cut. PTI ATK