De Roeyo, Hewson lead Hero Women’s Indian Open; Hitaashee, Mannat among top Indians

Khel Today Bureau
 Gurugram:Overnight joint leader Alice Hewson of England stayed on top of the standings on day three of the US $ 400,000 16th Hero Women’s Indian Open. She was joined by Belgium’s Manon De Roey on 3 under par 213 at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Saturday.

De Roey, second on the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit, was one of two players to master the difficult DLF course on Moving Day, returning a 7 under 65 along with Austria’s Emma Spitz.

In all, 13 players broke par on the third day of the only LET event in South Asia, and only the two leaders and the third-placed player are under par after 54 holes.

England’s Liz Young (74-74-67), who was 8-under through 15 holes, was two clear at one point. Then, she dropped a shot each on her final three holes to come down to 67. She held sole third place on 2-under 214, up nine places from her overnight 12th spot.

While De Roey (74-74-65) moved up from tied 16 into a share of first place, Spitz (76-75-65) – who claimed a rare eagle on the par-4 17th hole – was the day’s other big mover, climbing from tied 35th to sole fourth, three strokes behind the lead pair.

“Today was very good,” De Roey said later. “I created a lot of birdie chances for myself, hit it really close on a few holes and just made some putts. That’s quite the difference between the first two days, I think. I didn’t make so many putts, but today it was very solid.”

On her thoughts ahead of Sunday’s final round, the 32-year-old said, “I’m just going to stick to my game plan. This is a tough course, it’s a challenge. There’s a lot of golf to be played. There are a lot of chances out there, but I’m very excited about tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it.”

Added co-leader Hewson, “My round was really solid today. I played just nicely throughout the day. I got off to a quick start with two birdies, but had two quick bogeys following that. Settled into the round quite nicely and just played very solid after that. Had lots of good saves with some pars, but also let a couple of birdie opportunities go by.

“We’re just trying to take it a shot at a time, have fun and pull it our way around the golf course. It’s playing really tricky again today and the wind started getting up, so just course management is kind of key. Nothing changes for tomorrow. Go out there, have fun, enjoy it.”

After 54 holes, DLF player Hitaashee Bakshi (80-68-73) in tied 15th at 5 over 221 was the best-placed of the nine Indians to have made the halfway cut.

Bakshi was a stroke ahead of impressive amateur Mannat Brar (76-75-71, T21) on a day the home challenge all but faded away.

Pranavi Urs, tied seventh after 36 holes, returned a 77 on Saturday that included a triple bogey, a double and three bogeys against three birdies and dropped to T-21st.

Ridhima Dilawari slipped from tied 12th overnight to shared 35th with a 7 over 79. DLF players Tvesa Malik and Vani Kapoor were tied 35th and 41st respectively.

Vani Kapoor (75) was T-41, Ananya Garg (75) was T-48, amateur Janneya Dasannjee (76) was T-51 and Diksha Dagar (80) was T-55.

The impressive Mannat Brar was the only Indian to return a sub-par card on Saturday that included four birdies against three dropped shots. Earlier this year, the 17-year-old became the first Indian to reach the semi-finals of the R&A Girls Amateur Championship and on the testing DLF courses had rounds of 76 and 75 for the first two days.

Hewson 27, kept herself in title contention with a steady 71 on Saturday and will line up for a shot at her second title of the year after victory at the VP Bank Swiss Open while co-leader De Roey, 32, is also a winner this season at the Investec SA Open and warmed up for Sunday with the day’s only clean card that was studded with seven birdies.