Hitaashee Bakshi fired a bogey-free round of 67 (-5) on day two of the Hero Women’s Indian Open to sit atop the leaderboard at the midway mark of the competition.
The 21-year-old, who is competing in her first full season on the Ladies European Tour (LET), rolled in her first birdie on the fourth before adding back-to-back birdies on seven and eight.
Bakshi made two further birdies on 12 and 13 to seal her flawless round at her home golf course of DLF Golf and Country Club, and climb to the top of the leaderboard with a score of seven-under-par.
“It’s amazing to perform on home soil finally and it’s good to be back,” said Bakshi. “Today, I had my crowd, there were a lot of people following me and it was amazing to have them there.
“I have been playing here for 14 years, I’ve grown up over here and played every single day. It’s amazing to perform the way I finally want to during a tournament. I hold the women’s course record of -8, so I’m going to try to beat that the next few days.
“I was just going one shot at a time. I didn’t care if I was bogey-free or if I was making bogeys and birdies. I just wanted to have one swing at a time and that helped me a lot.
“It’s amazing to be in my first full season on the LET. When I was nine or 10 years old, I used to volunteer in these events just to be close to the players and now I’m finally playing with them – it’s amazing.”
Germany’s Verena Gimmy and Indian amateur Zara Anand are tied for second place one shot further back on six-under-par.
Gimmy, who is playing the Hero Women’s Indian Open for the first time, carded a round of 70 (-2) on day two which included four birdies and two bogeys.
“I love the course. I like it when it’s quirky and tough and you have to think a little bit. I’m very confident off the tee, I grinded today around the greens and made a lot of good up-and-downs,” said the German.
“It wasn’t as easy and flawless as yesterday, but I’m very happy with my round. It’s really important to be in the fairway, the second cut is really tough here. I hit lots of fairways and got a few chances. On 18, I made an up-and-down from 90 metres for par, I’m glad my coach is here and we worked a lot on my pitching.
“I’m trying not to think about my status for next year too much, I’m trying to enjoy every single hole and play as much as I can. We will see what happens. My highlight was probably my birdie on 14, it’s probably the toughest hole on this course. I hit a great shot to nine feet and holed the putt.”
Amateur Anand also produced a round of 70 (-2) but had a more adventurous day on the golf course with a double bogey, two bogeys and six birdies on her scorecard.
“It’s been incredible, I’m really grateful for this and I’m just enjoying myself out there,” said the 17-year-old. “My putting has been going well this week. I have my coach on the bag and he’s been a great help for me, so I’m just going to keep on going.
“He has been my coach ever since I started playing, it’s been 10-12 years with him and I think he knows me better than I know myself. It’s great having him out there and he used to be a pro, so it’s a great experience.
“I’m going to take it hole by hole and shot by shot and just stay in the present, that will be the key going into the weekend. I’m looking forward to it. DLF is not my home club, but I do end up playing two events here in a year. It’s a great course and a new challenge every day.”
Two players are in a share of fourth place with Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini and India’s Pranavi Urs both on five-under-par.
2024 LET Order of Merit winner Tamburlini began her round on the 10th tee and made birdies on 14 and 16.
The Swiss star rolled in back-to-back birdies on four and five before back-to-back bogeys; however, she bounced back to finish birdie-birdie on eight and nine for her round of 68 (-4).
“I only missed two fairways and I think I hit 17 greens, on this golf course that’s a pretty good start,” said Tamburlini. “I made a couple of putts. I had a bit of a hiccup on hole seven, three-putting from five metres but I was happy to finish birdie-birdie and not let that affect me too much.
“Last year, I came here and I saw a lot of the tee shots and I ended up being really scared. I played scared golf here last year, so I have tried to do the opposite this year and be very intentional with the shots off the tee and into the green.
“It’s playing a little softer this year into the greens, and that’s nice because you can fire at pins a bit more, but tee shots have to be so good because the rough this year is brutal. I did a lot of work ahead of time on my 3-wood because I knew I would need it.
“I’m going to try and do pretty much the same thing over the weekend. I haven’t won this year, which is a big goal of mine, but you also can’t force it especially on this golf course. I really have to trust that the work I have put in the last couple of weeks is going to be paying off and my body has the skill of hitting the shots still.”
Urs fired the joint-best round of the day with a 67 (-5) to move herself into contention just two shots behind the leader.
“Nothing really changed, it was just the putts dropped today,” said Urs. “Overall, it was pretty similar to what I played yesterday. I made less mistakes, so that was the only change. I have always known that I can go low and be in contention, it was a boost that I got last week.
“I love coming back here, this course humbles me for sure. It’s great and I’m excited to be out here playing. My putting worked today. I hit the ball close yesterday as well, but I holed more putts and I was more confident with the way I putted. It would mean everything to get the title this week, it would be a dream come true.”
Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson is in outright sixth place on four-under-par with Singapore’s Shannon Tan, England’s Alice Hewson and India’s Vani Kapoor in T7, and a further three players are T10 at the 36-hole mark.
The cut fell at +8 with 70 players making it through to final two days of competition at DLF Golf and Country Club.
Round three will begin at 9.10 am (local time) with the leading group teeing off at 11.11 am (local time) in India.
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