Nagoya, Japan, Sep 30: India’s wait for a maiden Asian Games women’s golf golf medal could be moving towards an exciting finish, with Pranavi Urs producing the round of 66 to seize a three-shot lead after 54 holes at the Kasugai Country Club East Course.
A second medal could come in the women’s team competition, where Indian women are second behind China.
On a day when the pressure was expected to intensify, Pranavi played with authority, shot a four-under 66 and moved to 15-under for the tournament, turning a two-shot deficit at the start of the day into a commanding three-shot advantage going into the final round.
For India, there was another reason for optimism. Pranavi’s performance also lifted the women’s team into second place in the team competition, with India four shots behind China and two ahead of Hong Kong.
It is the second successive Asian Games at which an Indian woman has held the 54-hole individual lead. Aditi Ashok had done so in Hangzhou in 2023, only to see a seven-shot advantage disappear after a final-round 77. She eventually took silver, while India finished fourth in the team event. That silver remains India’s only women’s golf medal at the Asian Games.
Pranavi could now change that story. The 25-year-old Indian was composed for most of the day and, when she needed one final flourish, produced it on the 18th. Holding a two-shot lead when the final group reached the last hole, she struck a superb second shot to inside eight feet and converted the birdie putt to finish three ahead.
It was her fifth birdie of the round. Her only blemish came at the par-four 14th.
“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.”
That calmness has been a feature of Pranavi’s game during the week. Supported by Hero, she has spent the last three seasons on the Ladies European Tour knocking on the door of her first individual win, and the Asian Games has given her another major opportunity.
Pranavi, the only Indian woman golfer to have won a mixed professional event after her triumph at the IGPL Invitational Mumbai last year, is refusing to look too far ahead.
“I hope so. That’s, 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.”
Her challenge on Thursday will be substantial.
Singapore’s Shannon Tan, the overnight leader, slipped to a one-over 71 but remained second at 12-under. China’s Yin Ruoning, meanwhile, shot a bogey-free 66 to move to 12-under, just three behind Pranavi.
Yin brings considerable pedigree to the chase. The Chinese golfer, who turned 24 four days ago, is a six-time LPGA winner and captured the 2023 Women’s KPMG PGA Championship. Playing alongside Pranavi and Tan, she birdied the first, seventh, 13th and 16th holes without dropping a shot.
Pranavi had begun the day brilliantly. She birdied the first and third while Tan dropped a shot, instantly turning a two-shot deficit into a one-shot lead. Another Tan bogey on the fifth and Pranavi’s birdie on the eighth extended the advantage to three at the turn.
When Tan dropped another shot on the 10th, Pranavi was four clear.
But Tan, a two-time Ladies European Tour winner, refused to let the contest disappear. She attacked the course and reeled off three consecutive birdies from the 11th to the 13th. Pranavi could manage only one birdie in that stretch and suddenly the gap had narrowed to two.
Both players dropped shots on the 14th before Pranavi produced a crucial par save on the 15th, holing a tense 14-footer. They matched pars on the 16th before Pranavi found the decisive birdie at the last.
While Pranavi has given India a strong chance in the individual event, the team competition has also taken an interesting shape.
India’s women’s team, comprising Pranavi (66-63-66), Aditi Ashok (71-74-70) and Diksha Dagar (71-73-71), has a cumulative score of 409 from the two best scores each day. China leads on 405, while Hong Kong is third on 411.
For the Indian men, however, the third day brought mixed fortunes, as Saptak Talwar slipped to 11th while Veer Ahlawat is now tenth.
Ahlawat provided the highlight with a five-under 65, including four birdies on the back nine. His rounds of 71-68-65 have taken him to six-under and into the individual top 10 at 10th.
“I have played well on the second nine on all three days,” said Ahlawat, who will also have the DP World India Championships later this month to look forward to.
Saptak Talwar carded a one-under 71 and is 11th at five-under after rounds of 66-68-71, while Yuvraj Sandhu is one-over and tied 23rd after 71-69-71.
India’s men are sixth in the team competition at 11-under, with the two best scores counted each day.
At the top of the men’s individual leaderboard is Korea’s Tom Kim, who has carded 66-67-65 to reach 12-under. Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei Hsuan and Japan’s Kazuki Higa are one shot behind on 11-under.
Kim arrived in Japan straight from the President’s Cup in Medinah, US, and has the added incentive of a gold medal potentially earning him an exemption from South Korea’s mandatory two-year military service. He has chosen not to dwell on that subject and has remained focused on his golf.
Korea also leads the men’s team event, with Japan, featuring Keita Nakajima and Higa, second and China, with Ding Wenyi, third.
For India, the golf story now is about Pranavi. Pranavi enters the last round with a three-shot cushion, but she knows the job is far from complete.
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