Asian Games golf: Pranavi Urs leads by three, eyes women’s gold
India's Pranavi Urs returned a superb four-under 66 in the third round to take a three-stroke lead and place herself in strong contention for an individual gold medal at the Asian Games women's golf competition here on Friday.
The 23-year-old from Mysore, who is making her Games debut, has a total of 15-under 195, which is three shots clear of Shannon Tan of Singapore, who stumbled to a one-over 71 in the third round to lose the lead position that she held overnight.
A stroke adrift of Shannon was China's Yin Ruoning. She signed on a flawless four-under 66 for a total of 11-under 199.
Pranavi's card was studded with five birdies against a solitary bogey that she dropped on the par-four 14th hole. She played out a blemish-free front-nine, picking up shots on the first, third and eighth holes.
Her other two birdies came on the 13th and 18th holes.
It was a big third-day leap, traditionally called the 'moving day' in golf, and also put the Indian women's team comprising Pranavi (66-63-66), Aditi Ashok (71-74-70) and Diksha Dagar (71-73-71) in the second place, four shots behind the Chinese.
China's total of two-best scores on each of the three days is 405. India have a cumulative score of 409 and Hong Kong is at 411.
After three days of golf in Nagoya, the country has given itself two genuine opportunities to add to its Asian Games medal tally.
For the second successive Asian Games, an Indian woman will hold the 54-hole lead at the Asian Games. Aditi Ashok did so in Hangzhou in 2023.
Despite taking a seven-shot lead into the final round last time in China, Aditi crashed to a 77 on the final day and ended second with a silver.
The team finished fourth and Aditi's silver is the only women's golf medal won by India.
Pranavi, who is the only Indian woman golfer to have won a mixed pro event, which she did at the IGPL Invitational Mumbai last year, was happy with her showing, but had a few regrets too.
"Wish I could have holed more putts in the back nine. Hopefully I'm saving them for tomorrow. Overall, it was pretty solid from Tee to green. I just didn't hit a lot of bad shots," she said.
Pranavi has been knocking on the doors of a LET (Ladies European Tour) win and when asked if Asian Games could get her there, she added, "I hope so. That's all I can hope for. I am just gonna take it shot by shot. The result is not in my control anyway.
"Today I was just focussed on my game. Just played my game and stuck to my game plan. As for (my) improving and maturing, I would like to think so. It's been three years on the (LET) Tour and obviously, I haven't won yet, and I'm still knocking on the door to get my first win, Hopefully I get that soon."
Men stumble
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Things did not go great for the men's team, though Veer Ahlawat brought home a card of five-under 65 with four birdies on the back nine. His rounds have been 71-68-65 for a six-under total.
Ahlawat’s 65 helped him force his way into Top-10 at 10th spot, while Saptak Talwar (66-68-71) at five-under total was 11th. Yuvraj Sandhu (71-69-71) was one-over and T-23.
In the team competition, for which the top scores each day are counted, the Indian men are 11-under and in sixth place.
Pranavi began the day with a flourish with two birdies in the first three holes as her rival Shannon dropped a shot. The deficit of two was now an advantage of one for the Indian.
Then Tan, playing with Pranavi, dropped a shot on the fifth and the Indian birdied the eighth to go three-up at the turn. A bogey for Tan on the 10th meant the gap became four. All along Pranavi was steady, hitting well and putting well, though on an occasion or two, a makeable putt did not fall.
Then came the twist as Tan, a two-time Ladies European Tour winner, fought back with three birdies in a row from the 11th to the 13th. The stretch saw Shannon play aggressively and reap benefits. Pranavi managed only one birdie on the 13th meaning the gap was down to two.
Both players dropped shots on the 14th and Pranavi holed a tense 14-footer for par on the 15th. Pars for both followed on the 16th as the tension became visible on their faces but not the game. Then Pranavi nailed a final birdie on the 18th for a 66 and a three-shot lead.
Chasing Pranavi and Tan is the pedigreed Chinese Yin Ruoning, who turned 24 four days ago. Playing alongside Pranavi and Tan, Yin, a six-time LPGA winner including the 2023 Women's KPMG PGA Championship, played bogey-free round and stayed in the hunt.
The men’s individual competition is being led by Tom Kim of Korea (66-67-65),who at 12-under is one shot ahead of Chinese Taipei's Wang Wei Hsuan (65-66-68) and Japan's Kazuki Higa (65-67-67), who are both at 11-under.
