Liyana Durisic of Malaysia, the leader; Inset – Nishna Patel with her brother, Ronav, who was her caddie. Pic: WAAP
Pattaya, Thailand, Nov 3: Nishna Patel fought back gallantly from a bogey-bogey start as she found two birdies and dropped no more shots to bring in an even par round of 72 on the first day of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship. She was placed tied 30th and the best among the six Indians playing here. Avani Prashanth (74) was tied 52nd.
On a day, when 29 players shot under par, Malaysia’s Liyana Durisic, 21, often called the ‘birdie machine’ holed seven birdies, five of them in last six holes for a 6-under 66 that gave her a one-shot lead over last year’s joint runner-ups Australia’s Kelsey Bennett and local hero Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, who shot 5-under 67 each. Defending champion Mizuki Hashimoto was tied fifth at 69.
Nishna, a 16-year-old from Mumbai’s Bombay Presidency Golf Club, who this year played the Women’s Amateur in Scotland and the World Amateur Team Championship in France, missed the cut last year at the same event when it was held in Abu Dhabi. This time she started with bogeys on her first two holes but made up with birdies on fifth and 17th.
She was the best placed among the six Indian golfers, who are in Pattaya for the event, that gives the winner a spot in two Majors, the Women’s Open and the Evian Championships, besides starts at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Hana Financial Service event in Korea.
Avani, who came off a fine tied 12th finish at a Ladies European Tour professional event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open, made some great saves, but she also failed to make some up-and-downs from the deep bunkers. She also had three-putted the last. Avani, tied 16th last year, had two birdies, both on her second nine against four bogeys, three of which came in her first six holes.
Avani teeing off with the first group in the morning from the tenth was three over in the first six holes. She made a good comeback with birdies on sixth and eighth on her second nine, the front side of the Waterside Course at the Siam Country Club. At 1-over she looked set to close with at least a par, when she three-putted and finished 2-over to be tied 52nd.
Kriti Chowhan, one of the three Indians, who made the cut in the 2021 edition of WAAP, was the second best Indian at tied 43rd. Kriti, who came close to a win when she finished joint runner-up while playing a pro event on her domestic Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, shot 1-over 73 with two birdies against three bogeys.
Mannat Brar (75) at three-over was tied 61st, Sifat Sagoo (77) at 5-over was tied 71st and Ceerat Kang (79) at 7-over was tied 78th.
Leader Durisic, 21, from Kuala Lumpur, is at Iowa State University, and has made the cut in all three previous WAAP events.
Bennett, 22, is from New South Wales and shares the same coach as last week’s winner of Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, Harrison Crowe.
Vongtaveelap, who won the individual and team gold medals at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi 2022 and the 88th Singha Thailand Amateur Open last month, was tied second with Bennett at the last edition in Abu Dhabi.
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