Malaga, Nov 30 (IANS): Pranavi Urs stayed in Top-3 as she added a solid 3-under 69 to her first round of 6-under 66 to be tied third after two rounds at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de Espana.
The Mysuru golfer, who is playing her first full season on the Ladies European Tour, is now 9-under for 36 holes and trails leader Carlota Ciganda (67-66) who is 11-under.
Pranavi, former Hero Order of Merit winner in India, is tied third with Helen Briem of Germany who shot 66-69 to be 9-under. Lying second is Pia Babnik of Slovenia, who has had two straight 67s.
Aditi Ashok, the defending champion, carded 71 after a first round 70 is now 3-under 141 and Tied-23rd, while Diksha Dagar, two-time winner on the LET, 71-72 is 1-under 143 and Tied-31st. Tvesa Malik (72-75) is Tied-61st.
Pranavi Urs got off to a good start with two birdies in her first three holes before dropping her only shot of the day on the eighth. She later rolled in two more birdies on the ninth and 15th holes.
“I could have holed a lot more putts than dropped, so hopefully in the next couple of days it will,” said the Indian. “The game was pretty solid, I also didn’t give myself as many opportunities as yesterday. I had little mistakes here and there, but that’s golf. It was overall a decent day.
“I’m slowly getting used to playing in the last group. The crowd is obviously fantastic here and they’re all cheering for you. It’s been fantastic,” said Urs.
Ciganda, a seven-time LET winner began the day two shots off the pace and had a bogey-free second day around Real Club Guadalhorce Golf. Ciganda began with a birdie on the second before adding another on the fourth and back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven to make the turn in four-under. Ciganda, who won this title in 2021, continued her form on the back nine with two more birdies to seal a round of 66 and move to the top of the leader board on 11-under-par.
The 20-year-old Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, who has her brother on the bag, carded a bogey-free round of 67 (-5) for the second day in a row to be in outright second place after 36 holes in Spain.