Hitaashee takes sole lead at halfway stage of Hero Women’s Indian Open; teen amateur Zara is tied second

Gurugram, October 10:

India's Hitaashee Bakshi teed off early in the morning just as the sun was rising and brought home a solid bogey-free 5-under 67 in the second round to vault to the top of the leaderboard at the $500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open. Hitaashee’s 67, alongside her first round 70, took her to 7-under and the sole lead at the halfway stage here at DLF Golf and Country Club.

It was the first time Hitaashee was holding the lead in a Ladies European Tour event.

Right behind Hitaashee on the leaderboard, which had a distinct Indian touch, was teenager amateur, Zara Anand (68-70) in tied-second place with Germany’s Verena Gimmy (68-70).

Pranavi Urs (72-67), produced a back-nine surge to shoot a 67 and was tied fourth with the 2024 Order of Merit leader Chiara Tamburlini (71-68) at a 5-under total of 139. In fact, both the day's best scores of 67 came from two Indians - Hitaashee and Pranavi.

Not too far behind was the first-round leader, Vani Kapoor (67-74), who despite things not going her way, hung in for a 74 to be 3-under in Tied-seventh place with last year’s joint runner-up Singaporean Shannon Tan (68-73) and England’s Alice Hewson (69-72) at a 3-under total of 141.

Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson (71-69) was sole sixth.

With four Indians in the Top-10, hopes of an Indian win after a nine-year gap are rather high.

Indian golfers held the spotlight right through the day as Hitaashee lit up the morning session, then it was Zara Anand and Pranavi Urs' turn to shine through in the fading evening light. Zara at one time even shared the lead with Hitaashee, before a double-bogey on the 17th pulled her back. Creditably, she didn't let that setback affect her as she closed her round with a birdie on the 18th to claw back to the 2nd place on the leaderboard.

A dozen Indians made the cut including Avani Prashanth (73-71) and Amandeep Drall (74-70) at Tied-14th, Durga Nittur (70-75) at Tied-18th, Ridhima Dilawari (75-72) at Tied-28th, Jahanvi Bakshi (75-73), the elder sister of Hitaashee, and Jasmine Shekar (75-73) at Tied-31st, Tvesa Malik (74-75) at Tied-39th and Diksha Dagar (78-72) at Tied-46.

A total of 70 players made the cut which was applied at eight-over. Some of the well-known names missing the cut were Gaurika Bishnoi, Sneha Singh and amateurs Mannat Brar and Saanvi Somu.

The bubbly Hitaashee, who will be joined in the final two rounds by her sister, Jahanvi, was thrilled to hold the lead in an LET event for the first time.

She said, “I am feeling good, this is my home course. My expectations are where it should be and I'm really happy with that.

“Today, I teed off at 6.40 am and that is exactly the time I usually play here at this course. So I just felt so normal to me that even if there was dew on the course, even if it was wet, I was like, I have played it so many times, that’s just a normal round of golf for me.”

Long after Hitaashee was gone after her morning fireworks, teenager Zara Anand came back with a smile and a second round card of 70 despite a late double bogey.

She commented , “I don't really think there is a code to DLF, every day is different, every hole is different, but the more I play here, the more comfortable I get on the greens and on the shots so I think that's good and I'm just looking forward to the weekend.”

Commenting on her own fortunes and probably those of many others, Zara went on, “Quite a roller coaster finish for me. I had a great putt on 16 and I think I got a little bit unlucky on 17 and then again another great putt and a great shot on 18. So, that was great. Got my heart rate up a little bit.

On 17th, my tee shot went through the fairway into the rough and then my second shot landed on top and rolled all the way back down and then again it landed on top and came back down onto the green and I had a 3-putt after that.

I'm just enjoying every shot and every moment out there and just taking it as it comes. I'm just looking forward to the weekend and just grateful to be here.”

Zara was tied second with German Verena Gimmy (68-70), who is enjoying herself on her first visit to India.

Gimmy said, “I've been working really hard, it's just not really clicking. So I'm glad maybe we'll find something this week. Like I said, I'm just going to try and enjoy it as much as I can. I've always wanted to come here, so I'm glad I can.”

Pranavi Urs, coming back from a wrist injury and a Top-five finish in France, equalled this week’s best of 67 – shot by Vani Kapoor on Day 1 and by Hitaashee this morning – to jump 42 places at the Tied-fourth position with Chiara Tamburlini.

Pranavi’s only bogey came on the second, when she went into the rough.

Pranavi, who had three birdies on either side of the course, said, “I think my putts dropped today. I was more committed with starting it on line and the speed and stuff. So it was good. The putting was the change in the game from yesterday and today.

“Definitely, I am a lot more confident than I was a few months ago. I always know that I can do well but to actually do it and finish top 5 is just like a booster that I got from last week and hopefully I can carry that this week.”

Vani, who a day earlier after a 67, commented that the DLF course was a friend, was very philosophical today after a 74. She said, “Things didn't work out today. Some days the course at DLF is your friend and it wasn't my friend today.” Vani’s best in her previous dozen starts at the National Open is Tied-sixth in 2017.