Diksha Dagar soars to tied-second in New South Wales Open

India's Diksha Dagar shot a solid four-under 68 on the back of three birdies and an eagle in the second round of the Women's New South Wales Open golf tournament here on Friday Dagar carded 69 in the first round and at seven-under 137 is tied-second and two shots behind leader, Manon De Roey, who shot 64 on day two of the competition.

Three-time LET winner Aditi Ashok recovered from her first-round 73 to shoot 68 and rise to tied-11 at the end of the second round. The other four Indians in the field, Tvesa Malik (79-73), Gaurika Bishnoi (74-78), Astha Madan (78-77)and Ridhima Dilawari (81-78) all missed the cut, which fell at two-over Long-hitting Dagar, who will defend her Investec South African Women's Open in a fortnight, also eagled the 10th in a round of 68.

"My approach shots were very good, and my putting. I had a birdie chance on every hole. My driving was slightly off and I missed left and right on a few holes, but my irons were great," she said The 19-year-old Dagar trails Belgian De Roey by two.

De Roey soared into the halfway lead with an eight-under 64 in the second. At nine-under-par, the Belgian, also a long-hitter, moved two strokes clear of her nearest rivals, Dagar, Camilla Lennarth and Agathe Sauzon Dagar, who has not had a top-10 finish in a world ranking tournament since her win in South Africa last March, played through the front nine with birdies on third and seventh.

On the Par-5 tenth, she had a fine eagle to go to four-under, but a bogey on 11th meant she dropped to three-under. She then parred the next five holes before a birdie on 17th for a 68 Meanwhile, Aditi birdied third, seventh, ninth and 10th to reach four-under before dropping a shot on 12th. But she birdied 17th to finish with 68.

Lennarth, who earned her sole LET title in the 2014 Slovak Open, was pleased with her 69 on a more difficult scoring day The 28-year-old Sauzon from Bourg-Les-Valence in France, set the target earlier in the day, with a five-under-par 67.

The 2018 and 2019 champion, Meghan MacLaren, finished just inside the projected cut line, on five-under-par after rounds of 75 and 74.

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