Women’s Indian Open: Pranavi T2, Ojaswini, 13, makes the cut

New Delhi: Consistency has been the hallmark of Pranavi Urs’s rise in the last few weeks. At the Asian Games, on way to winning gold, she dropped shots only in three holes across four rounds. At the Hero Women’s Indian Open Ladies European Tour event in Gurugram, it is her grit that has stood out in the first two rounds.

The 23-year-old shot 2-under 70 for the second day to be tied second at the halfway mark, two shots off Chiara Tamburlini. The Swiss 2024 LET Order of Merit winner who plays in the LPGA shot one-under 71 on a day when the DLF Golf and Country Club course in Gurugram made life difficult for the field.

Only 11 players were under par for the tournament, and the halfway cut was applied at nine over par, underlining how demanding the course conditions were on Friday. Two shot the day’s best card of 69, both Indians. Of them, Vani Kapoor capped an eagle on the par-4 14th hole to rise to tied seventh at two-under for the tournament.

Ojaswini excels

The other to shoot 69 was 13-year-old Ojaswini Saraswat, an eighth grade student who hails from Jaipur. The amateur was T26 and made it to the weekend rounds at four-over for the tournament. She became the youngest Indian ever, and the second youngest overall, to make the cut at an LET event.

Aditi Ashok was the previous youngest Indian to achieve that, at 14 in the 2012 Women’s Indian Open. The LET record belongs to Thai Ariya Jutanugarn, who was 12 when she made the cut at the 2008 Finnair Masters. Ojaswini is rapidly making a mark. She was runner-up at the US Kids World Championship in 2024 and a silver medallist at the US Kids European Championship that year.

She got into the field this week as one of the leading Indian players on the world amateur rankings. She shot 79 on Thursday before her brilliant effort in a second round that had seven birdies besides four bogeys.

“I started golf when I was four,” said Ojaswini, who started going to the course which was near her house. “I wanted to make some birdies because it was important,” she said. “After Thursday’s round, I just wanted to play well because I knew where I had made mistakes.”

Pranavi has struggled with a stomach bug, but showed great fight despite a weak body. She bogeyed her first hole, the 10th of the course, but didn’t drop a shot after that. Three birdies on the back nine (11, 14, 17) was the reward as she stayed focused on trying to win her first LET event.

“My stomach hasn’t been the best this week; I’m trying to keep it together,” Pranavi said after her round. “One bad hole doesn’t mean you can’t come back. You have to be patient. That’s what I did and just took it shot by shot.”

Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher was tied second with Pranavi. Czech Sara Kouskova and France’s 2017 winner Camille Chevalier were tied fourth at 3-under par for the tournament.

Singapore’s defending champion Shannon Tan slipped to tied 15 after a round of five-over 77. Ten Indians made the cut, but LET players Diksha Dagar and Hitaashee Bakshi did not after finishing on 13-over par following a second round of 80 and 79 respectively.