Julia Engstrom (Pic: Timothe Renaud) and Tvesa Malik (Tristan Jones)
Sep 19: Tvesa Malik put herself in contention with a solid 3-under 68 to be tied second after the second round of the 2020 Lacoste Ladies Open De France in Bordeaux.
As Tvesa carded 68 to get to 4-under 138, Sweden’s Julia Engstrom had a memorable day with a hole-in-one en route to a second round 64 (-7) which put her on top the leaderboard heading into the third and final round.
Things were however rather disappointing for Diksha Dagar, who after 89 in the first round carded 85 and missed the cut by a big margin.
Tvesa shares the second place with local French golfer and the 2015 champion Celine Herbin at 4-under and they are four behind Julia Engstrom, whose stunning 64 saw her open up a handy four-shot lead.
Tvesa is seeking to become only the third Indian to win an event on the Ladies European Tour. Aditi Ashok (3 wins) and Diksha Dagar have previously won on the LET.
Tvesa said, “I booked a one-way ticket from India so I am glad I have been able to play so much golf and It’s been really fun here in France. I am grateful for the opportunity to compete; the course is such a good set up.”
“It has been great getting to play so many events and I have learnt a lot,” she added. She will be playing in the final group of an LET event for the first time.
It has been a phenomenal run for Tvesa, who started with the Scottish Open (65th) and followed up with the AIG Women’s Open (missed cut) and Czech Ladies Open (T-20) in the subsequent two weeks. She went to Switzerland for two events, one each on the LET Access series, where she finished fourth, and Swiss Ladies on LET (Missed cut). She is now looking at her maiden win and her best result on the LET since her Tied-sixth place at her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2019.
Tvesa, who has been improving consistently, birdied the first hole for the second day running to get off to a fine start. A second birdie on sixth was followed by a bogey on seventh. She fought back with a birdie on ninth to turn in 2-under 34. On the back nine, she added a birdied on Par-4 11th but a dropped shot on 16th pushed her back. She finished with a pleasing birdie on 18th for a 68 at which point she was Tied-third.
Charlotte Thompson suffered back-to-back double bogeys on 15-16 and dropped to a crowded tie at fourth place. Charlotte carded 72 to go with her first round 68. She was among the six players tied at fourth place at 2-under.
Engstrom’s round was made memorable as she holed a 133-yard 8-iron on the par three 8th hole. Capitalising on the ace, Engstrom, 19, continued to go flag hunting at Golf Medoc’ Chateaux Course, immediately following up with a tap-in birdie at the 9th hole. A bogey at the 11th slowed her down but further gains on 15, 17 and 18 saw her set the clubhouse target at eight-under-par as she was looking to grab her second LET victory of the season, having won the Women’s NSW Open in March.
Former champion and home favourite Celine Herbin shot a bogey-free 66 to move through the pack into T2 place alongside Tvesa Malik who is on a six-week tournament run.
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Tvesa Malik cards one-under 70, lies seventh in Open de France
