Wellington, February 12 India's Guntas Kaur Sandhu carded a one-under 71 at the Royal Wellington Golf Club here on Thursday to emerge as the best Indian, finishing tied for 17th place after the opening round of the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific.
The tournament is hosted by The R&A (Royal & Ancient, Scotland), the world governing body for the rules of golf, in association with the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC).
As part of the four-member team sent by the Indian Golf Union (IGU), Guntas started with a bogey on the first hole, but then sank birdies on the third, eighth, and 12th holes. However, a bogey on the 15th hole slowed her down. She is seven strokes behind the leader, Yunseo Yang of South Korea.
Other Indian golfers, Ananyaa Sood (2-over 74; Tied 42nd), Zara Anand (7-over 79; Tied 66th), and Jia Kataria (9-over 81; Tied 75th), also had a disappointing first round.
Speaking about her round, Guntas said, "Royal Wellington is a challenging parkland course. I attacked the flags from the start, but had mixed results today.
"I will draw inspiration from some of my good performances on the domestic IGU circuit tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a memorable outing here."
The winner of the World Amateur Asia-Pacific earns invitations to play in three major championships – the AIG Women's Open, the Amundi Evian Championship, and The Chevron Championship.
