Tandi takes lead as Laura falters in Indian Open

GURGAON: No excuses, sighed Laura Davies, after her rollercoaster adventure in Gurgaon took another dip as she struggled with a cold putter to nullify her 7-under opening round with a destructive 6-over. On a day when she was hounded by bogeys, her main rival on the European money list Lee-Anne Pace failed to make inroads, stumbling with a 5-over - six shots off the lead with the pride of top position now belonging to her South African mate Tandi Cunningham.
There was constant change on the leaderboard until the 24-year-old from Johannesburg walked off into the fading afternoon with a final-hole birdie, as she established a one-stroke lead over Italian Veronica Zorzi and French Cassandra Kirkland in the Hero Honda Women's Indian Open with her 4-under round and total.
Tandi attributed the bogey-free outing to her patience and resilience. "It's easy to lose your concentration in the heat and I'm happy I didn't lose mine. I did not want to experiment too on the course and went for some tidy play."
The gameplan will be similar on the final day and she promised to keep her eyes off the leaderboard. "I don't want to be distracted, and just keep focusing on the short routine," she smiled confidently.
Her self-assuredness stemmed from the fact that she had led twice going into the final round of tournaments last year, and managed to convert them into triumphs. "I'm not expecting to do the same but it would be fitting. I'm sure a steady round will do the trick."
Tandy was missing her husband Paul, who also assumes the responsibilities of caddy and coach, and she hoped to have a surprise in store for him. "I need to win this to surprise my husband with a holiday and it will be out of Africa," she laughed.
Hot on her heels are Parisian Kirkland and Zorzi from Verona. Kirkland, an unheralded player, shot the day's lowest score of 5-under 67 - posting six birdies against a bogey. Zorzi was also looking for a fillip to a poor European season, and her even-par round kept her in contention.
"It was a not a real good effort from me but honestly I was lucky because other players did not return with good scores. That made my game look good," said Zorzi.
Three Indians out of 19 made it to Saturday's final round as the cut was applied at eight-over 152 - Sharmila Nicollet and amateurs Vaishavi Sinha and Tanya Wadhwa, both based in the US.
Leading scores after Round 2: 140: Tandi Cuningham (SA) 72-68; 141: Veronica Zorzi (Ita) 69-72; Cassandra Kirkland (Fra) 74-67; 142: Nontaya Srisawang (Tha) 71-71; Becky Morgan (Wal) 73-69; 143: Yuki Sakurai, (Jpn) 71-72; Laura Davies (Eng) 65-78; Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 72-71; Stacy Bregman (Rsa) 72-71; Louise Friberg (Swe) 68-75.
Indians who made the cut: Vaishavi Sinha (A) 73-75; Sharmila Nicollet 78-73; Tanya Wadhwa (A) 75-76.