Gurbani takes the lead

Bangalore girl Aditi Ashok cards 74 for second spot

Title favourites Gurbani Singh and Aditi Ashok both carded two-over 74 to set up an intriguing final round clash in the Usha Southern India Ladies and Junior Girls golf championship here on Wednesday.

While Gurbani’s round propelled her to the top of the leaderboard with a two-round total of 148, Aditi’s topsy-turvy card left her one shot behind in second place at the Karnataka Golf Association.

Gauri Monga too matched the duo’s score of the day to rise to third spot at 152 while surprise overnight leader Amandeep Drall found the conditions extremely difficult, carding a disastrous nine-over 81 to share the fourth spot along with Millie Saroha at 154.

After holing out a bogey-five on the third hole, Gurbani opted to play percentage golf, parring the next 12 holes before dropping another shot on the 16th hole. However, she rescued herself with a birdie on the next hole, undoing the good work with a bogey on the closing 18th.

Aditi made a promising start to the day, picking up a stroke on the first hole. Disaster struck immediately as she bogeyed the second hole before sinking a double bogey on the 12th. Just like Gurbani, Aditi returned to the club house with mixed feelings, finding a birdie on the 17th and a bogey on the 18th.

Leading scores (after 36 holes): Ladies: 148: Gurbani Singh (74, 74); 149: Aditi Ashok (75, 74); 152: Gauri Monga (78, 74); 154: Millie Saroha (74, 80), Amandeep Drall (73, 81); 156: Gurimar Badwal (80, 76).

Category A (15-17 years): 148: Gurbani Singh (74, 74); 154: Millie Saroha (74, 80); 157: Raksha Phadke (76, 81); 158: Vrishali Sinha (83, 75); 161: Isha Kapoor (80, 81).

Category B (13-14): 149: Aditi Ashok (75, 74); 157: Ridhima Dilawari (80, 77); 159: Ankita Kedlaya (79, 80); 164: Gurjot Badwal (79, 85); 166: Seher Atwal (84, 82).
Category C (11-12): 175: Tanirika Singh (91, 84); 182: Harnemat Toor Kaur (93, 89); 183: Riya Ahuja (91, 92); 187: Arshia Mahant (92, 95).
Category D (below 10): 184: Vasundhara Thiara (91, 93); 185: Tanishka Kumar (93, 92); 197: Tiya Chowdary (97, 100), Anika Varma (95, 102).