Dagar, Kapoor shine as home golfers start well at Hero Women's Indian Open

A strong home presence meant the top of the leaderboard was well staffed as Diksha Dagar and Vani Kapoor held two of the top three places after the first round of the Hero Women's Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Thursday. 

Dagar set aside an early bogey to card six birdies and sit one shot behind the leader, Norway's Madelene Stavnar (66),while Kapoor was a further shot adrift in third place on her home course. 

Giving home fans much to cheer about, Dagar was 5 under 67 for the day and Kapoor 4-under 68 after amateurs Vidhatri Urs and Avani Prashanth had showed the way with 70 and 71 to be placed sixth and tied 11th respectively.

Gaurika Bishnoi (72) was tied 17 after a round that had three birdies against a bogey and a double.

Tenth tee starter Dagar, who can reach the top of the Race to Costa Del Sol standings with a win this week, said, "It was a slow start for me today because on 11th hole, I was confused with the club selection. So I wasn't confident about the tee shot. But it was alright, afterwards I hit six birdies and had a solid round overall.

"On the 10th hole (the first of the course), I made a very long birdie putt (35 feet) which was uphill and then down the slope. All aspects (of my game) are fairly good and most importantly, putting was the main thing and I putted well today."

On her expectations for the second round, Dagar, who had a late first round start added, "I prefer to play in the morning because I feel nice. Also, you don't have to play under the sun because in the afternoon it can get hot."

Stavnar, who along with Sara Kjellker (73) accompanied Vani and Amandeep Drall for a taste of Indian street food two days ago, had a clean card that was studded with six birdies. The Norwegian, who is yet to win on the LET, opened with three pars and then added four birdies to turn in 4-under 32. She added further gains on holes 13 and 15, while keeping the errors off her card. 

Noted the 22-year-old later, "I'm very happy. It's one of those days where golf feels a little bit easier than others. This course is not easy so a 66 will do very nicely to begin with.
 
"I played really steady and think I hit 17 greens today which obviously makes things a little easier. But still, the greens are not too easy. I just felt I did a really good job both mentally and technically." 

Vani Kapoor, who needs a good finish this week to get into topv60 for the next LET event in Spain, started from the tenth tee with three pars and then reeled off four birdies in a row.

"I had a good stretch of birdies. I had four of them back to back from the 13th to 16th and just kept riding on them before a little bad patch going down. I three putted 18 and missed a chip out on the second which was a little annoying but again those were just lip outs.

"I gave myself a lot of chances, stayed patient throughout, and I think that's something that worked."

Kapoor also picked up birdies on holes five and eight before closing with a solid par. 
On the season itself, Vani added, "I think my game has been good throughout the year, but unfortunately all the scores haven't been coming together. It just comes in patches. So, I've just been making cuts, but I haven't had any good finishes."

In the morning wave, Urs and Prashanth had under-par rounds. Vidhatri, who had five birdies against three bogeys, said, "I knew the course was going to be a little tight today and in the front nine the pin positions were a bit tight. So I just wanted to finish it in pars. And then in the back nine a few holes were pretty easy. So I just went for it."
 
Avani started strongly with four birdies in first 10 holes and then her putter went cold. "It took a bit of time for me to get used to the greens because they were playing pretty slow in the morning. But otherwise, pin positions were pretty good in the back nine and then I executed the plan perfectly and once I got used to the greens, putts really started dropping. And then it (the putter) went off on the back nine."