Diksha 4th, Pranavi 13th in Morocco after second round

Rabat (Morocco), Feb 24 (PTI) Diksha Dagar placed herself for a good finish as she moved into the tied fourth spot at the end of the second round of the Lalla Meryem Cup on the Ladies European Tour here on Saturday.

Diksha, third on the LET Order of Merit in 2023, shot 2-under 73 and moved to 4-under 142 total.

Fellow Indian Pranavi Urs, playing her first full season on the LET, seemed set for a high position after the second hole as she was 3-under through the front nine and 5-under for the event at that stage.

Pranavi then dropped a double bogey on the 14th and a bogey on the 17th to drop back to even par 73. At 2-under total, she was tied 13th at the Par-73 Royal Golf Dar Es Salam course.

Mexico’s Maria Fassi continued to dominate the event after producing a strong second round of 69 (-4).

Fassi has held the lead since the start of the tournament carding a round of 65 (-8) on day one.

Diksha, who shot 2-under 71 in the first round, opened the second round with five pars before finding a birdie on the sixth. She gave that shot back on the ninth, but birdies on the 10th and the 18th saw her finish at 2-under.

Pranavi, who had six birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey, birdied second, fourth and seventh. She dropped a double bogey on the 14th, and it was her second double, as she had one on the first day, too. She also had a bogey on the 17th on the second day.

Despite a shaky start, a double bogey on hole two, Fassi, an LPGA player, dusted off her nerves to roll in three birdies on the front nine on holes five, six and eight.

At the turn, Fassi continued her fine form by rolling in a further four birdies with only a bogey on the 17th to blemish her back nine scorecard.

Home favourite Ines Laklalech sits in solo third after a round of 73 (par). The Moroccan got off to a strong start carding two birdies in her first four holes before dropping shots on holes nine and fifteen.

Six players are tied for fourth on four-under-par; Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova and Klara Davidson Spilkova, England’s Bronte Law, Diksha, Norway’s Madelene Stavnar and Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano.