Nishtha Madan drops late bogey but stays in Top-20 LPGA Q-School

By PTI

RANCHO MIRAGE: India’s Nishtha Madan shot an even par 72 to keep herself inside Top-20 at Stage I of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament here.

The 23-year-old, who has won four times on the Cactus Tour in Arizona, was flying high at 3-under through first 10 holes and well inside Top-10 at Shadow Ridge.

Then Nishtha dropped three shots on the 11th, 12th and most disappointingly on 18th to fall to even par and T-18th.

They still have one more round to go.

Things were, however, not so great for the other three Indians as Nikita Arjun (77-74-69), Saaniya Sharma (78-73-73) and Sharmila Nicollet (76-77-73) missed the cut after 54 holes.

After three rounds, Huize Lian of China is back on top of the leaderboard after a 5-under par 67 on the Pete Dye Course.

Lian is 14-under overall and has a two-stroke lead with 18 holes remaining.

Players finishing in the top-95 and ties will advance to Stage II from October 21-24 in Venice on the Panther Course and Bobcat Course at Plantation Golf and Country Club.

The tournament is being played on two courses, the Shadow Ridge and Peter Dye courses.

A third-round 67 launched Australia’s Amelia Garvey into a tie for second with 36-hole leader Agathe Laisne at 12-under.