Hitaashee and Ridhima make the cut in Swiss Ladies Open

Zug (Switzerland), Sep 13 (PTI) Ridhima Dilawari, playing on an invite, and Hitaashee Bakshi were the only two Indians to make the cut at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.

Both the Indian golfers shot 71-69 to get to 2-under 140 at the Par-71 Golfpark Holzhäusern in wet conditions. They were both Tied-23rd.

The other Indians Vani Kapoor (74-70), Sneha Singh (70-75), last year's runner-up Tvesa Malik (72-74) and Pranavi Urs (74-76) missed the cut and exited early.

England's Alice Hewson took a two-shot lead, sitting at nine under par after 36 holes. The two-time LET winner – and defending champion - began the day on the 10th tee.

After a shaky start with bogeys on the 12th and 13th, she found her rhythm, rolling in six birdies on the way to a second-round of four under par (67).

Ridhima, who has had very few starts on the LET this season, began well as she had five birdies against three bogeys. In one stretch between the sixth and the 12th, she had four birdies, two bogeys and just one par.

Hitaashee had four birdies and just one bogey for his 2-under 69.

Defending champion Hewson credited her work with sports psychologist Dan for helping her stay in the moment and focus on one shot at a time, a mindset she feels has been a big positive this week.

Two shots back are Ireland’s Lauren Walsh and Australia’s Sarah Kemp, who sit in a tie for second place on seven under par through 36 holes.

Walsh had a steady, bogey-free round, with back-to-back birdies on the 9th and 10th holes.

A further shot back are a total of three players in a tie for fourth place, including Spain's Nuria Iturrioz, Wales' Lydia Hall, and Germany’s Celina Sattelkau, who all sit on six-under par.

It’s a stacked leaderboard, with five players sitting in a tie for seventh place on five-under par.

The players included Norway's Dorthea Forbrigd, France's Agathe Sauzon and Camille Chevalier, Germany's Carolin Kauffmann, and Spain's Harang Lee.

Switzerland's Kim Metraux, Chiara Tamburlini, and amateur Axelle Martin, are all a further shot back alongside Canada’s Anna Huang, and Germany's Alexandra Forsterling.

After 36 holes of action 67 players made the cut which fell at one-over par. PTI Corr AT AT