Diksha Dagar fires 4-under, tied fifth at Joburg Open

She was lying tied 50, and Ridhima Dilawari 73-78 and 1-under through 14 was tied 54.Ladies European Tour LET rookie Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland 70-68 and 5-under through 15 was on top of the leaderboard as she ran away to 13-under and a five-shot lead over Aunchisa Utama of Thailand 69-71 and 2-under through 15 who was 8-under.Diksha opened her third round with a birdie on the second but gave that shot back on the Par-5 fifth hole.

Diksha Dagar continued her fine run, firing a superb 4-under 69 in round three to rise to tied fifth at the Joburg Ladies Open here on Saturday.

Diksha, a two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour and third on the Order of Merit in 2023, had rounds of 73-71-69, improving by two shots on each day at the Par-73 Modderfontein Golf Club for a total of 6-under.

The clubhouse leader was Spain's Luna Sobron Galmes (71-73-68) at 7-under. But, she will be overtaken by Tamburlini of Switzerland, who was already 13-under with three holes yet to play, and Aunchisa Utama of Thailand was 8-under, also with three more holes in the third round.

Diksha is now 6-under but will need to have a big finish in the final round to make a bid for her third career title.

She is looking at a third Top-10 finish of 2024 after Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco and Aramco Series Florida.

Tvesa Malik, a multiple-time winner at home on Hero WPGT and a one-time winner in South Africa, also showed a welcome return to form, adding 72 to her first two rounds of 71 and 75, and she is now 1-under to be placed inside top 25.

Tvesa missed a large chunk of 2023 as she lost her playing rights, but she has made great progress in South Africa's Sunshine Tour, where she won at the start of the year.

All four Indians made the cut. Vani Kapoor (76-75 and 3-over through 16) was yet to finish her third round. She was lying tied 50, and Ridhima Dilawari (73-78 and 1-under through 14) was tied 54.

Ladies European Tour (LET) rookie Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland (70-68 and 5-under through 15) was on top of the leaderboard as she ran away to 13-under and a five-shot lead over Aunchisa Utama of Thailand (69-71 and 2-under through 15) who was 8-under.

Diksha opened her third round with a birdie on the second but gave that shot back on the Par-5 fifth hole. She struck a purple patch in the middle of the round with three birdies in a row from seventh to ninth and added a fourth on Par-3 11th. She closed with a run of seven pars, a couple of which had makeable birdie putts.

Home favourite Nadia van der Westhuizen, who held the halfway lead at the Joburg Ladies Open after firing a round of 68, was none-under but slipped in the third round as she was 2-over through 14 and was now tied 3 with four holes to play.

After two rounds of action, the cut fell at five-over par, with 71 players making it through to the weekend.

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