Charlotte Thompson and Tvesa Malik. Pic: Ladies European Tour
Bordeaux, France, Sep 17: Tvesa Malik continued her summer of learning as she shot an opening round of one-under 70 to be Tied-seventh on the tough par-71 Chateaux Course and in blisteringly hot conditions in the 2020 Lacoste Ladies Open De France.
Tvesa opened with a birdie but gave away back-to-back bogeys on third and fourth on the difficult Chateaux Course. She fought back superbly with a trio of birdies on seventh, eighth and ninth to turn in two-under 34. On the back nine she was very steady with eight pars and her only dropped shot was on the Par-3 12th. Her 70 put her at T-11 when she finished, but by the time the 78-player finished in difficult scoring conditions, she had moved up to T-7.
Things however were miserable for Diksha Dagar, who was dead last with a round of 18-over 89. Her last three rounds have now been in the 80s, including 87-80 in Switzerland. On Thursday Diksha ironically started with a birdie, but then had six bogeys, two doubles and three triple bogeys.
Tvesa, who missed the cut in Switzerland last week, is in her full season in Europe,. She was T-20 in Czech Ladies and T-4 at the Flumserberg Ladies Open on LET Access Series.
Tvesa is now two shots behind the trio of leaders, English players Charlotte Thompson and Gabriella Cowley and local amateur and debutant Lucie Malchirand, who fired opening rounds of 68 (-3) each to share the lead.
The conditions were such that only 17 of the 78 players broke par. The 36-hole cut will fall at the end of round two, with 36 players proceeding to the final round.
Thompson shot 37 on front nine with a bogey on second and a double bogey on fourth. Then she came home in 31 shots with four birdies in five holes between 13th and 17th. She said that she started counting how many birdie putts she could set up instead of scores to take her mind off. It helped.
Gabriella Cowley’s round of 68 was made more remarkable by the fact she contemplated dropping out this morning due to sickness. “I spoke to my Dad before teeing off, I wasn’t 100% sure I would play but I’m not the sort of person to not at least try, so when I bogeyed the first I thought, here we go.”
The English star who is chasing a maiden victory, bounced back at the second with a birdie before adding further gains on fourth and 10th on way to a three-under round.
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