Gurugram: The treacherous greens of the DLF Golf and Country Club continued to test the field for the second successive day at the Hero Women’s Indian Open (HWIO) with overnight leader Sara Kouskova dropping to 11th place and Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit (OOM) leader Chiara Tamburlini missing the cut on Friday.

With greens playing faster than ever before — vouched for by stunned course regulars — only nine in the 114-strong field could card under-par scores while only six managed to make par. Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley’s even par round (72-72) propelled her from an overnight T8 to a shared third spot.

The cut fell at an unprecedented 10-over 154 as nine Indians went through to the weekend, including two-time LET winner Diksha Dagar (78-72, T24) and amateurs Mannat Brar (76-75, T35) and Janneya Dasanniee (76-77, T-49). DLF duo of Vani Kapoor (75-77, T-45) and Tvesa Malik (77-77, T-60) also made it to the money rounds.

Singapore’s Shannon Tan (71-71) rose from overnight fifth place to the top, sharing the spot with England’s Alice Hewson (72-70) who was eighth when the play began under the typically nippy and hazy conditions.

Competing in her rookie year — she is the first Singaporean to earn a LET card — Tan gave a good account of herself under trying conditions to rise to the top. Starting at the back nine, the 20-year-old scored birdies on the 12th and 16th holes before making a bogey on the par 4 17th hole.

“I focussed on hitting fairways and greens and knowing which part of the green would be the safest option. I was disciplined and stuck to my plan. On the par-5 18th, I laid up even though I could have reached the green in two. You have to be disciplined around here,” Tan said.

Mysuru’s Pranavi Urs (74-71), tied-17th on Day 1, jumped ten places to end the day tied-seventh — the best among Indians — followed by Ridhima Dilawari (74-71) who was T-12 on her home course.

Starting on the back nine, Urs rode on the momentum that a birdie on the very first hole gave her. She saved a shot on the 17th, made a solitary bogey on the back nine (12th hole) and ended the round with a brace of birdies and bogeys on the front to stay three shots adrift of clubhouse leaders Tan and Hewson.

Urs, who has four top 10 finishes in her rookie LET season, including a tied third at the Dormy Helsingborg in May, carded one-under on the day. “DLF is such a course that you can go five under, and you can also go five over. I think you just have to be patient,” the 21-year-old said.

Dilawari, who made three bogeys and two birdies on the day, hit the greens consistently and stayed clear of attacking the flag. With greens still offering tennis-ball bounce and the undulations veering the ball away, the conservative approach worked for the 26-year-old who is searching for her maiden win on LET.

“It is important that on a course like this, if you make a small mistake, don’t make such a big deal out of it. I am generally very good at making pars even on other courses, so that approach helps on such a course where pars are a premium,” Dilawari said.

The experienced Diksha Dagar recovered from a horror six-over to card an even par round on Day 2. The 23-year-old made three birdies and an equal number of bogeys to finish T-24 with an aggregate of six-over (78-72).

“Diskha made a good recovery today but we are not happy with the course. This course is ideal for PGA but not for the European tour where girls don’t hit that long or impart a great deal of spin. The good shots are being penalised here, which is not good,” Dagar’s father Col Narinder Dagar said.

Local girl Hitaashee Bakshi (80-68) made a roaring comeback into the tournament, carding a superb four-under which remained the lowest round of the day. The 19-year-old WGAI OOM leader, who also shares the course record — a brilliant eight-under that she carded this March — had logged a shocking eight-over on Day 1. On Friday though, she fired seven birdies, joint most in the day. Her aggregate of four-over put her at T16 going into the business end.

“I found my rhythm in the back nine. The turning point was the 10th hole where all of a sudden I had a 157-yard shot and I hit my eight iron, and I was within three feet. After that, I knew all the tough holes were gone and I’ll have a good round,” Bakshi said.