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Avani Prashanth placed herself in the top 10 after a bogey-free 4-under 68 in the opening round at the Investec SA Women's Open. Avani had two birdies on either side of the par-72 course and trailed the leaders, France's Perrine Delacour and Germany's Aline Krauter by three shots at Erinvale Country and Golf Estate.
Another Indian, Tvesa Malik, a winner on the Women's Pro Golf Tour and on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, had a great start with three birdies in the first three holes. She then dropped a double bogey but steadied herself to pick one more birdie on the back nine on 15th and parred the others for a 2-under 70 and was Tied-32nd. Three other Indians, Diksha Dagar, Pranavi Urs and Tvesa Malik shot even par 72 each to be ied-68th. Avani birdied the third and the fifth and then added two more on the 11th and the 17th as she played superbly. She found 13 of the 14 fairways and 17 of the 18 greens. She needed 32 putts and some putts missed narrowly, but the overall game looked very good. Delacour carded a bogey-free round with an eagle on the third hole to make it a solid start. The 31-year-old, who plays on both the LPGA and LET, kept the momentum going with a birdie on the next hole and went on to add four more to her scorecard. She captured her first LET title at the 2024 Dormy Open Helsingborg in Sweden and will be aiming to add a second to her name this week. Germany's Aline Krauter dropped her only shot of the day to finish seven-under par (65), in sunny and still conditions. She had eight birdies across the front and back nine so she kept consistent throughout the 18 holes. Krauter is joined by her mother and father this week. Krauter's lone LET win came in India at the 2023 Hero Women's Indian Open. The tight leaderboard had three players in a share of third place, including Namibia's Bonita Bredenhann, Czech's Sara Kouskova, and France's Lucie Malchirand, on six-under par (66). There was a hole-in-one on 14 from Bredenhann. (ANI)
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