Kapoor, Dagar in chase of Germany’s Aline Krauter at Hero Women’s Indian Open
Ten Indians lead by Vani Kapoor in second and Diksha Dagar, third, made it to the weekend rounds of the Hero Women’s Indian Open 2023 behind day two leader Aline Krauter of Germany.
- Oct 20, 2023,
- Updated Oct 20, 2023 10:01 PM IST
HEADING: Kapoor, Dagar in chase of Germany’s Aline Krauter at Hero Women’s Indian Open
INTRO: Ten Indians lead by Vani Kapoor in second and Diksha Dagar, third, made it to the weekend rounds of the Hero Women’s Indian Open 2023 behind day two leader Aline Krauter of Germany.
CAPTION: Vani Kapoor made the most of familiarity with her home DLF course to stay a shot off the pace after two days of the Hero Women’s Indian Open behind new leader Aline Krauter of Germany with Diksha Dagar holding third place. Image courtesy Ladies European Tour.
By Rahul Banerji
Playing in front of family, friends, and fans at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, Vani Kapoor grabbed the spotlight on the second day to lead for much of the day before Germany’s Aline Krauter took over at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Friday.
Vani added a 70 to her first round 68 but was pulled in by Ladies European Tour rookie Krauter, who is making a bid to take back the trophy to Germany for the second straight year after Olivia Cowan won the $400,000 event last year.
Left-hander Diksha Dagar, making a bid to top the Race to Costa Del Sol standings, held on for an even par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys after a 67 on Day 1 to sit third on the leaderboard. She is 5 under and tied third with Swede Sara Kjellker (66), who had the day’s best card.
There was much to celebrate for home fans as another DLF golfer, Gaurika Bishnoi hit a 69 to be tied seventh alongside two-time national champion and amateur Avani Prashanth (71-70) on 3-under.
Four Indians figured in the Top-7 positions of the leaderboard with six others making the cut that fell at 6-over par 150. Amateur Vidhatri Urs, 2-under through her first nine holes, had a rough second nine with four bogeys, three of them in a row between holes six and eight. She shot a 74 and was level par for 36 holes and tied 14th, a sharp drop from T6 overnight.
Ridhima Dilawari (74-71) was T20, Khushi Khanijau (73-73) was T29 and Neha Tripathi (75-72) was tied 35th. Nishtha Madan, seven over 79 for the first day, made a great recovery to shoot 70 on the second day and ensured weekend action at T51 at 5-over.
Last year’s joint runner-up Amandeep Drall (76-74) squeezed through to the weekend with a birdie on her final hole of the day. Her second nine was rocky with an opening triple bogey and a double on the sixth. She also had birdies on holes three and four and yet another last-gasp birdie on nine.
Vani, who shot six birdies against four bogeys, said, “It’s so nice to play at your home course and have friends and family here as well as all the DLF members. It’s a brilliant feeling, really a different feeling.”
Starting two behind overnight leader Madelene Stavnar (74) Kapoor birdied thrice on the front nine before giving those shots back by the 10th. She made back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 before adding another on 16 to hold the lead.
“It was quite an up and down round,” she said. “I would make one birdie and then drop a bogey. But I’m glad that I held on,” added Kapoor, who is making her 11th appearance at her national Open.
Round 2 leader Krauter said, “"My ball striking was really good today. This helps around this course. I left a lot out there around the greens, but I feel like that's every golf round.
"I put myself in great positions and had a lot of birdie chances. I didn't convert as many as I would have liked, or could have, but it was still a great round."
Vani, 120th in the Race to Costa del Sol, needs a good finish to keep her LET card for the next season. She said, “Obviously keeping my card is important, but right now I’m not thinking about that. I feel I’ve come to terms with it, and I’m still going to be playing golf as I love the sport.”
Lying tied third was the left-handed Diksha Dagar, fourth on the Race to Costa Del Sol standings. She admitted, “I didn’t start well,” on dropping shots on her opening two holes.
She added, “Today my putting let me down, and the pin positions were a little bit tougher than yesterday.”
Dagar rebounded with birdies on eight and 11 before dropping another shot back on 14. She then birdied 18 to move to within one shot of Kapoor.
Queen Sirikit Cup winner Avani, who also won an LET Access Tour in Europe, looked confident after her 2-under 70 that had four birdies against two bogeys. She said, “I started off very well with a birdie on the first, immediately hit a bad shot on second.
“I told my dad on the sixth green that I'm going to birdie seven, eight, nine; exactly what I did. And then, going into the back at three under, I was very happy with how I was going.
“Somehow flew my three wood on 14 and went into the right hazard. But besides that, I think I'm pretty happy because the course was playing pretty tough today. I will take a two under, sitting four shots back with 36 holes to go is something I can definitely close out.”
She gave her caddie credit as well, adding, “I would definitely say that he helped because I was losing a bit of my mind in the first six holes but he told me that you'll figure things out at seven, eight and nine looking quite easy and I saw in the morning a lot of people had birdied those three holes.”
Gaurika, who has been playing at this course for almost 15 years, has not been able to translate her good form on the local tour on the international level. She said, “To be honest I've had a fantastic season (at home) because I've played six events and won two and I finished runner-up in two.
“I haven't had the opportunity actually to play that much internationally. Also, I was struggling initially a little with my injuries. I am just finding my momentum again.
“The Hero Women's Indian Open is the National Open and I'm just very proud to be representing my country. This is my home course so I think the odds fall in my favour.
“I love the course, I've grown up here. I have that sentimental attachment with the course. So the Hero Women's Indian Open is just a very special week for me.”
HEADING: Kapoor, Dagar in chase of Germany’s Aline Krauter at Hero Women’s Indian Open
INTRO: Ten Indians lead by Vani Kapoor in second and Diksha Dagar, third, made it to the weekend rounds of the Hero Women’s Indian Open 2023 behind day two leader Aline Krauter of Germany.
CAPTION: Vani Kapoor made the most of familiarity with her home DLF course to stay a shot off the pace after two days of the Hero Women’s Indian Open behind new leader Aline Krauter of Germany with Diksha Dagar holding third place. Image courtesy Ladies European Tour.
By Rahul Banerji
Playing in front of family, friends, and fans at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, Vani Kapoor grabbed the spotlight on the second day to lead for much of the day before Germany’s Aline Krauter took over at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Friday.
Vani added a 70 to her first round 68 but was pulled in by Ladies European Tour rookie Krauter, who is making a bid to take back the trophy to Germany for the second straight year after Olivia Cowan won the $400,000 event last year.
Left-hander Diksha Dagar, making a bid to top the Race to Costa Del Sol standings, held on for an even par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys after a 67 on Day 1 to sit third on the leaderboard. She is 5 under and tied third with Swede Sara Kjellker (66), who had the day’s best card.
There was much to celebrate for home fans as another DLF golfer, Gaurika Bishnoi hit a 69 to be tied seventh alongside two-time national champion and amateur Avani Prashanth (71-70) on 3-under.
Four Indians figured in the Top-7 positions of the leaderboard with six others making the cut that fell at 6-over par 150. Amateur Vidhatri Urs, 2-under through her first nine holes, had a rough second nine with four bogeys, three of them in a row between holes six and eight. She shot a 74 and was level par for 36 holes and tied 14th, a sharp drop from T6 overnight.
Ridhima Dilawari (74-71) was T20, Khushi Khanijau (73-73) was T29 and Neha Tripathi (75-72) was tied 35th. Nishtha Madan, seven over 79 for the first day, made a great recovery to shoot 70 on the second day and ensured weekend action at T51 at 5-over.
Last year’s joint runner-up Amandeep Drall (76-74) squeezed through to the weekend with a birdie on her final hole of the day. Her second nine was rocky with an opening triple bogey and a double on the sixth. She also had birdies on holes three and four and yet another last-gasp birdie on nine.
Vani, who shot six birdies against four bogeys, said, “It’s so nice to play at your home course and have friends and family here as well as all the DLF members. It’s a brilliant feeling, really a different feeling.”
Starting two behind overnight leader Madelene Stavnar (74) Kapoor birdied thrice on the front nine before giving those shots back by the 10th. She made back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 before adding another on 16 to hold the lead.
“It was quite an up and down round,” she said. “I would make one birdie and then drop a bogey. But I’m glad that I held on,” added Kapoor, who is making her 11th appearance at her national Open.
Round 2 leader Krauter said, “"My ball striking was really good today. This helps around this course. I left a lot out there around the greens, but I feel like that's every golf round.
"I put myself in great positions and had a lot of birdie chances. I didn't convert as many as I would have liked, or could have, but it was still a great round."
Vani, 120th in the Race to Costa del Sol, needs a good finish to keep her LET card for the next season. She said, “Obviously keeping my card is important, but right now I’m not thinking about that. I feel I’ve come to terms with it, and I’m still going to be playing golf as I love the sport.”
Lying tied third was the left-handed Diksha Dagar, fourth on the Race to Costa Del Sol standings. She admitted, “I didn’t start well,” on dropping shots on her opening two holes.
She added, “Today my putting let me down, and the pin positions were a little bit tougher than yesterday.”
Dagar rebounded with birdies on eight and 11 before dropping another shot back on 14. She then birdied 18 to move to within one shot of Kapoor.
Queen Sirikit Cup winner Avani, who also won an LET Access Tour in Europe, looked confident after her 2-under 70 that had four birdies against two bogeys. She said, “I started off very well with a birdie on the first, immediately hit a bad shot on second.
“I told my dad on the sixth green that I'm going to birdie seven, eight, nine; exactly what I did. And then, going into the back at three under, I was very happy with how I was going.
“Somehow flew my three wood on 14 and went into the right hazard. But besides that, I think I'm pretty happy because the course was playing pretty tough today. I will take a two under, sitting four shots back with 36 holes to go is something I can definitely close out.”
She gave her caddie credit as well, adding, “I would definitely say that he helped because I was losing a bit of my mind in the first six holes but he told me that you'll figure things out at seven, eight and nine looking quite easy and I saw in the morning a lot of people had birdied those three holes.”
Gaurika, who has been playing at this course for almost 15 years, has not been able to translate her good form on the local tour on the international level. She said, “To be honest I've had a fantastic season (at home) because I've played six events and won two and I finished runner-up in two.
“I haven't had the opportunity actually to play that much internationally. Also, I was struggling initially a little with my injuries. I am just finding my momentum again.
“The Hero Women's Indian Open is the National Open and I'm just very proud to be representing my country. This is my home course so I think the odds fall in my favour.
“I love the course, I've grown up here. I have that sentimental attachment with the course. So the Hero Women's Indian Open is just a very special week for me.”