Drall drills final birdie to take sole lead at the Women's Indian Open

She may still have felt disappointed at missing a birdie on the 18th, where many others picked a shot.Drall, who logged her first LET Top-10 only recently in the Swiss Ladies Open, and Hedwall, who has finished in top-2 three times in four starts at the HWIO, played superbly on the front nine.Hedwall played the front nine in 4-under 32 and moved to 9-under.


PTI | Gurugram | Updated: 22-10-2022 18:41 IST | Created: 22-10-2022 18:41 IST
Drall drills final birdie to take sole lead at the Women's Indian Open

Amandeep Drall drilled a confident six-footer for a final birdie to take sole lead with a bogey-free 67 on the third day of the USD 400,000 Hero Women's Indian Open here on Saturday.

She takes a one-shot advantage into the final day over Sweden's Caroline Hedwall (68) and German Olivia Cowan, whose bogey-free 65 equalled the week's best card.

Aditi Ashok added to the excitement with an eagle two on the Par-4 ninth during her round of 69 lying fourth and Gaurika Bishnoi (72) despite a bogey on the 18th was fifth, making it three Indians in the top five.

Of the top five, only Hedwall (2011) and Ashok (2016) have previously won the Women's Indian Open, while Drall, Cowan and Bishnoi are yet to register a win on the Ladies European Tour.

Even as Drall and Hedwall were engaged in a tight battle, German's Olivia Cowan, tied ninth on her last visit to India, was charging up the leaderboard. After four quiet pars to start, she caught fire. Cowan birdied six of the next seven, including five in a row from the seventh. There was one more on the 14th for the day's work of 7-under which was without a blemish. She may still have felt disappointed at missing a birdie on the 18th, where many others picked a shot.

Drall, who logged her first LET Top-10 only recently in the Swiss Ladies Open, and Hedwall, who has finished in top-2 three times in four starts at the HWIO, played superbly on the front nine.

Hedwall played the front nine in 4-under 32 and moved to 9-under. Drall, stayed patient despite some birdie putts not dropping on the first five holes. Then the putts did fall three times between the sixth and the ninth to turn in 3-under. At that stage, Hedwall led the field at 9-under and Drall was one behind.

Then came the dramatic 10th, where Hedwall missed and made a bogey and Drall holed a neat birdie for a two-shot swing and the places had been swapped at the top of the leaderboard with the Indian at 9-under and the at Swede 8-under.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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