Cape Town: Diksha Dagar waged a gritty battle to finish the opening day with a hard-fought 1-over 73 at the South African Women’s Open here on Thursday.
Dagar is now tied 53rd after Round 1. England’s Rosie Davies, still looking for her maiden win on the Ladies European Tour, shared the early lead with Switzerland’s Elena Moosman with 6-under 66.
Diksha has been in fine form after a strong 2023 season, during which she had a win in Czech Republic and two Top-3 finishes in Amundi German Masters and Hero Women’s Indian Open. This season she already has three Top-10 finishes.
In the opening round she had four birdies and five bogeys. It was a constant battle and she was never better than 1-under but was never worse than 10-over either, which is where she finished.
Tvesa Malik was also one-over with one more hole to play. At present, she is also tied-53rd.
Ridhima Dilawari with three birdies and five bogeys was 2-over and on tied-67th place while Vani Kapoor had an interesting round with an eagle on par-4 fifth hole followed by a double bogey on Par-4 sixth.
She had three other bogeys in her 75 and was tied 81 needing a solid second round to make the cut. While Davies and Moosman shared the lead, Julie Boysen Hillestad of Norway was third with 5-under 67.
Meanwhile, six players, including legendary South African Lee Ann Pace, and four English players Liz Young, Bronte Law, Annabell Fuller and Hannah Burke and French golfer Nastasia Nadaud shot 4-under 68 each.