Golf: Ojaswini and Nihal lie fourth, Kabir placed fifth at US Kids World Championships

Pinehurst (USA), Aug 5 (IANS) Ojaswini Saraswat, a past medallist at the US Kids Golf World and European Championships, shot the day’s equal second-best round of 68 and moved one place up to fourth place in the Girls' 10 Category at the 2023 US Kids World Championships.

The Mohali golfer carded 4-under 68 that included an eagle on Par-5 13th and three birdies in a row from the seventh to the ninth holes. Overall, she had four birdies, an eagle and two bogeys. Ojaswini (72-68) is now Tied-fourth and three behind joint leaders, Americans Jessica Kim (69-68) and Iris Lee (67-70) at Southern Pines Golf Club.

There were still three Indians in Top-5 of various sections as Ojaswini (Girls' 10) and Nihal Cheema (Boys' 6) were fourth and Tied-fourth respectively, and Kabir Goyal (Boys' 8) was Tied fifth.

Nihal Cheema, lying tied-second after the first round slipped to Tied-fourth among Boys' Under-6, as he finished bogey-bogey for a 1-over 37 in his nine-hole round. Cheema (34-37) is now 1-under 71 for two rounds of nine holes each and is five shots behind Bradley Ferguson (33-33) at Midland Country Club.

Kabir Goyal (Boys' 8) had a birdie finish in his second nine-hole round, but his three earlier bogeys saw him finish at 2-over 38 and he slipped from Tied-fourth to Tied-fifth. At 2-over 74 he is four shots behind leader American Stephen Sanders (35-35) at Mid Pines (Back).

For Boys' Under the age of eight years and Girls Under the age of nine years play on nine-hole courses in a competition, where the layouts are age-specific in the only world event of its kind.

Among other Indian boys, Sahib Aujla (43-47) in the Boys' 8 category was T-76 at Midland Country Club and in Boys' 10 Adit Veeramachaneni (78-72) improved to T-45 at Legacy Golf Links. In Boys 11, Chaitanya Pandey (74-75) was T-36 at Talamore Golf Club.  

In Girls' 11, Naina Kapoor (81-80) was T-39 at Pinehurst 6 while In Girls' 12, Shambhavi Chaturvedi (74-75) was T-22 and Ananyaa Sood (74-74) was T-31 at Pinehurst 5.

Last week three Indian golfers, Mahreen Bhatia (2nd in Girls 14), Kartik Singh (T-3 Boys' 13) and Lavanya Gupta (T-3 Girls' 15-18) had podium finishes in the World Teen Championships for Boys and Girls at Pinehurst.

The U.S. Kids Golf World Championship is recognised as a ranked event for the Junior Golf Scoreboard and the American Junior Golf Association besides allowing the players to gain World Amateur Golf Ranking points.

World-class players emerging from the US Kids include the likes of World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time Major winners Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, and Sahith Theegala among others while women stars include Lexi Thompson and the latest women’s Major winner, Allisen Corpuz, who won the US Women’s Open last month, is a three-time winner and twice runner-up at US Kids. 

Aditi Ashok, India’s top woman pro, and Avani Prashanth, India’s top amateur also played with distinction at US Kids events.