Riyadh, February 13 – Avani Prashanth moved up to 22nd place (tied) with one day remaining in the PIF Saudi Ladies International Championship at the Riyadh Golf Club, after a solid round of 68 (-4). As the leading Indian among the three who made the halfway cut, Avani (69-71-68) had five birdies against one bogey, and has a chance to improve further.
Her other two Indian colleagues, Aditi Ashok (72-69-71), were 54th, while Pranavi Urs (73-69-71) was 57th.
The other two Indians, Diksha Dagar and Hitaashee Bakshi, missed the cut.
Hye-Jinn Choi of Korea, who led after the first round with a score of 65, regained the lead with another round of 65, and is now 15 under par, tied with Japan's Rio Takeda (69-66-66). South African Cassandra Alexander (67-67-68) is in third place.
Three of the five Indians in the fray at the Riyadh Golf Club survived the halfway cut. The youngest star, Avani Prashanth, added a fighting 71 (-1) to her first round 69 (-3) to reach a total of (-4). She was 35th.
Aditi Ashok, a five-time winner on the LET, shot a solid 69 (-3) to reach a total of (-3) and was 43rd (tied), while Pranavi Urs (69) played a bogey-free round. After parring the entire back nine, which was her first nine, Pranavi had three birdies, which helped her make up for her first round 73. At (-2), she was 51st and ensured herself participation in the weekend rounds.
Diksha Dagar was unlucky to miss by one shot as she carded 74 (+2), and her total of (-1) for two rounds saw her early exit. Hitaashee Bakshi (74-72) also missed the cut. Diksha had two bogeys and could not get her putts to fall, and was left without a single birdie.
Avani, who started from the tenth tee, made a great recovery after being 2 over through her first six holes. She dropped shots on the 11th and the 15th. She fought back superbly with a birdie on the 18th and added two more on the fifth and the seventh to give herself a chance to make up further ground on the weekend.
Aditi, who was in the first group from the first tee, had an early bogey on the second but then picked four birdies without dropping any more shots for a 69.
