Rabat (Morocco), May 22 (IANS) India’s rising star Pranavi Urs produced a composed and confident opening round of 3-under 70 to move into tied second place after the first day in Morocco. The 23-year-old stayed firmly in contention in a tightly packed leaderboard, just two shots behind Australia’s Kelsey Bennett, who carded a superb 5-under 68 to take the outright lead.

Pranavi, who has shown consistent form in recent months, once again demonstrated her growing maturity on the Ladies European Tour. Starting from the back nine, she settled in quickly with an early birdie on the 11th hole and then played steady golf with seven successive pars to make the turn at 1-under.

Her momentum gathered pace on the front nine as she reeled off three consecutive birdies on the first, second, and third holes to briefly challenge for the lead. A bogey on the fourth halted the charge, but Pranavi responded calmly with pars on each of the remaining five holes to close a fine opening round and earn a share of second place alongside nine other players.

The Indian golfer has been knocking on the door of a breakthrough title. Last season, she finished inside the top 10 at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, and she also made headlines by winning the IGPL Invitational Mumbai in a mixed professional field, becoming the first Indian woman professional to achieve that feat against male professionals.

Leader Bennett mixed seven birdies with two bogeys during an impressive round. The Australian picked up shots on the first, second, seventh, eighth, 12th, 13th, and 16th holes, with her only blemishes coming on the 14th and 15th.

Among the other Indians in the field, Avani Prashanth and Diksha Dagar endured difficult starts as both returned rounds of 2-over 75 to be tied 61st. Hitaashee Bakshi carded a 5-over 78 and was placed tied 99th.

Avani’s round was highlighted by a costly quadruple bogey on the second hole of her front nine, though she fought back with birdies on the same hole and the eighth later in the round. Diksha’s lone birdie came on the second hole, but consecutive bogeys on the fifth and sixth prevented her from finishing under par.

Hitaashee struggled early with five bogeys on the back nine before recovering slightly with late birdies on the eighth and ninth holes.

Japan’s Ayako Uehara, Singapore’s Shannon Tan, and England’s Hannah Screen were the only players among the top contenders to remain bogey-free during the opening round, as all three joined Pranavi in the group tied for second.

–IANS

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