Neha Tripathi stretches lead to two shots in 12th Leg of WPGT

 Neha Tripathi played superbly on the back nine for a 4-under 32 as she carded 5-under 67 and extended her one-shot overnight lead to two in the 12th Leg of Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Golden Greens Golf and Resorts Ltd.

As Neha moved to nine-under 135 with rounds of 68 and 67, she was being chased by Riya Yadav, who after a good first round added an even better 5-under 67 for a total of 7-under 137.

Asmitha Sathish (71-70) and Gaurika Bishnoi (69-72) were tied third at 3-under 141, while Ridhima Dilawari had a late double bogey in her 70 and was sole fifth at 2-under 142.

Neha, whose off-season work paid off in the earlier part of the year, has been working hard again during the recent break and her game showed a lot of sharpness with all-around improvement.

Riya had two birdies and a bogey on the front nine and four birdies and no bogeys on the return journey. Riya, who had a hole-in-one on the eighth hole in her first round, had her solitary bogey of the day on the same hole in the second round.

Asmitha had three birdies and a bogey in her second round, while Gaurika had three birdies against three bogeys and a double in her first 15 holes. She was 2-over for the day but then found birdies on the 16th and the 18th to salvage a par round.

Agrima Manral (74-69) made a five-shot improvement from her first round and moved to tied sixth alongside Jasmine Shekar (72-71) at 1-under 143.

Tvesa Malik had a better day with seven birdies but also gave away five bogeys in her round of 70 after a first-round 75, as she was Tied-eighth with Khushi Khanijau (74-71) and Durga Nittur (74-71).

Seher Atwal, who shot 79 on the first day had a massive eight-shot improvement with a 71 and she was T-18 at 6-over 150. The Hero Order of Merit leader, Sneha Singh (78-75) was T-22.

Neha, who won the 10th leg before the break in the Tour schedule, birdied the second and fifth holes for a tidy start before suffering her lone bogey on the Par-3 eighth. On the back, four birdies on the 10th, 12th, 15th and 16th ensured a good day’s work and a good two-shot cushion. (ANI)