Golf: Diksha makes amends, moves into T-10 in Swiss Ladies Open

Diksha Dagar made big amends for her modest first round with a superb 5-under 66 that placed her in the Top-10 of the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open

Holzhäusern: Indian golfer Diksha Dagar made big amends for her modest first round with a superb 5-under 66 that placed her in the Top-10 of the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.

Diksha, who shot 1-under 70 in the first round is now 6-under 136 and tied ninth on Saturday. She is six shots behind the leader, Norwegian Madalene Stavnar (64-66) who is now 12-under 130.

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Stavnar leads the first round leader France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora (62-70) by two shots.

Diksha, starting on the first, raced to four-under through first eighth holes with birdies on first, third, seventh and eighth. She dropped back-to-back bogeys on ninth and 10th, but again found birdies on 12th, 16th and 17th for a 66.

Amandeep Drall (69-74), tied 14th after the first round, slipped with a 74 but made the cut in T-48th place. Vani Kapoor (72-73) missed the cut by one.

After two rounds of action, the cut fell at two-over par with a total of 67 players making it through to the third and final day.

Gunning for yet another Top-10 or even better Diksha will make some ground or even surpass the second placed Ana Pelaez Trivino, who is lying second on the Race to Costa Del Sol, but missed the cut this week by one. The leader on the Merit List, Celine Boutier, is not playing this week.

Chasing a maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win this week, Stavnar is yet to drop a shot and has bettered her previous best score of the season – a 67 at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open – in both rounds.

After carding a sensational 62 (-9) in round one, Mora struggled to reach the same heights at Golfpark Holzhäusern but still had a solid day at the office, posting a 70 (-1) to sit two adrift of leader Stavnar heading into Sunday.

Tying Mora’s score after 36 holes is Germany’s Alexandra Försterling, (66-66) to place herself in an excellent position as she hunts her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win.

Försterling’s compatriot Sophie Witt sits in a tie for fourth on nine-under par alongside Wales’ Chloe Williams.

In a tie for sixth on eight-under par are France’s Nastasia Nadaud and Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen, the latter following the leader’s cue in failing to drop a single shot after 36 holes.

Defending champion Liz Young is solo eighth after carding a bogey-free 66 (-5).

Diksha is among four players who are on six-under and they make up the top-10. The others are Spain’s Maria Hernandez, England’s Meghan MacLaren, and LET debutant Lauren Walsh, the Irish invitee who matched Witt’s round of the day 65 (-6).