Tenerife (Spain), June 7 (IANS) Diksha Dagar added a second-day round of 3-under 69 to her first-round 70 at the Tenerife Women’s Open to move to third place.

The 24-year-old is 5-under for two rounds. She is Tied third and four shots behind sole leader, Lauren Walsh (67-68) who is at 9-under at Abama Golf.

Avani Prashanth played three over par 75 on the second day to fall down the standings to tied 43. Tvesa Malik (73-75), Hitaashee Bakshi (72-76) and Sneha Singh (77-79) failed to make the cut, which was set three over par.

Diksha picked up a shot on the third hole before dropping one on the fifth but immediately got it back on the sixth and grabbed one more on the ninth. On the back nine Diksha made birdies on the 11th and 12th holes. She dropped a double bogey on the 16th hole before recovering with a birdie on the 17th for a 69.

Diksha had a rollercoaster day with six birdies and three birdies, that included some excellent approaches and a brilliant bounce-back birdie on the 17th. The two-time LET winner said: “I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I need to continue the same level of game. I’m playing well but need to keep steady. I’ll focus on myself and won’t look at the scores. Dad has been doing a good job on the bag reading the greens. We have been discussing it a lot. Because of him, I got some good birdies opportunities. This course is really difficult for the caddies.”

Diksha is now tied third in the standings with six more players including first-day joint leader Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen. The other six are Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova, winner of the last event, the Jabra Ladies Open, Spain’s Marta Martin, Austria’s Emma Spitz, overnight leader Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen from Denmark plus Italian pair Alessandra Fanali and Anna Zanusso.

Avani was doing fine with three birdies in the first six holes and even got into Top-5 at that stage. She dropped a bogey on the ninth and had a disastrous Par-4 13th hole, where she dropped a quadruple bogey for an eight and slipped down steeply.

Tvesa had two birdies against five bogeys, Hitaashee had one birdie against five bogeys and Sneha had two birdies, four bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey in her 79.

Walsh of Ireland continued to lead the field. She played in the same group as Diksha Dagar and started on the front nine.

Two shots behind the leader is Shannon Tan of Singapore with 71-66 and a combined score of seven under par.

The Order of Merit leader Mimi Rhodes (70-73) is placed tied 20th in the standings at one under par.

–IANS

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