Magenta Shores (Australia), March 7 Pranavi Urs (70) made a double bogey on the 17th hole, but still managed to finish in the top 5 after three rounds of the Australian Women’s Classic.
Pranavi, with scores of 72-66-70, was 8 under par and tied for fifth place, while Kelsey Bennett took the lead into the final round of the Australian Women’s Classic after carding 66-68-70 and finishing 12 under par.
Diksha Dagar (69) recovered from her second-round score of 73 to finish 5 under par and was tied for 14th place with one round remaining.
The other two Indian golfers, Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi, had missed the cut.
Pranavi made a birdie on the second hole but made mistakes on the fourth and fifth holes. She recovered with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes, finishing with a score of 1 under. On the back nine, she made birdies on the 11th, 13th, and 15th holes before making a double bogey on the 17th.
Diksha made bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes but rallied with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes. Three more birdies on the back nine brought her to 3 under par for the round and 5 under total.
Playing alongside Thailand's Trichat Cheenglab and England's Meghan MacLaren at Magenta Shores, Bennett had a strong start with a birdie on the par-5 first hole and maintained her lead.
Bennett is aiming for her first win on the Ladies European Tour (LET) in her home state after finishing eighth at last week's Ford Women’s NSW Open. She also finished 12th at the season-opening PIF Saudi Ladies International in Riyadh.
MacLaren, meanwhile, is on the verge of a stunning fourth victory in Australia, having won this tournament in 2022, along with two Ford Women’s NSW Opens in 2018 and 2019.
Another Englishwoman, Alice Hewson, who has won the LET three times, holds the solo fourth position with a score of 9 under par. Cheenglab and India's Pranavi share fifth place.
