Amandeep Drall takes a share of lead at Lalla Aicha Ladies European Tour Qualifying School

The Kapurthala golfer, who won four titles in 2016 after winning two in her Rookie year in 2015, added a round of four-under 68 at the Amelkis course after 66 at the Samanah a day earlier

Marrakch (Morocco), Dec 19: Indian women’s golf continues to hold the spotlight at the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Stage with Amandeep Drall moving into a share of the lead after two rounds here. The 24-year-old Drall, who turned pro at the start of 2015 after a stellar amateur career, showed that she could be the next one to watch out after Aditi Ashok.

The stocky Kapurthala golfer, who won four titles in 2016 after winning two in her Rookie year in 2015, added a round of four-under 68 at the Amelkis course after 66 at the Samanah a day earlier. At 10-under she shares the lead with C-line Boutier of France.

The other Indians also fared well and indicated that they could well be on the route to LET, as Neha Tripathi (72-69) is T-12 and Vani Kapoor (69-74) and Saaniya Sharma (70-73) are Tied-25th. Sharmila Nicollet (75-72) and Gaurika Bishnoi (77-70) are Tied-60th and Anisha Padukone (80-85) was way behind in 114th. Also Read- ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers 2017 Schedule: India clubbed with Sri Lanka in Group A

A year ago, Aditi Ashok became the first Indian to win a Qualifying School Final Stage and went on to win twice in her Rookie Year and also earn conditional status on LPGA in US.

Drall finding a lot of greens in regulation fired a second round of four-under 68. “My iron play was great. I only missed three greens and rolled in a lot of putts, so it was consistent hitting: fairway, green; fairway green,” she said.

“I had four birdies and I think the Amelkis course is more score-able than Samanah, especially on the back nine, because you have a lot of birdie holes where you can hit shorter clubs into the green and stick them close and hole the putts. So far, so good. I have no ambitions other than to make the top 30 and keep playing good golf.”

The 24-year-old from Chandigarh has the most experienced caddie at her side this week: Ian Wright, who has clocked up 37 years on tour and caddied for Seve Ballesteros.

She explained: “It was purely coincidence that we met. One of his friends, Eric, is caddying for my good friend Vani (Kapoor), so he approached me and I took him for a practice round and he passed the test.

“He’s really good with the yardages and I’m hitting good clubs into the greens, so I don’t have to bother too much about the calculations. I just have to be on the ball and hit my shot and that’s it. He’s the best caddie I’ve had yet.”

Conditions were much warmer for the second round on Sunday, which was played under blue skies at the Samanah and Amelkis courses, simultaneously.

While Drall is happy to be playing solid golf, Boutier is also in the running to claim the trophy with 54 holes to go. The 2011 European Junior Solheim Cup team member said: “I started pretty well with a birdie on one and it was pretty steady: all pars until I had two more birdies on 15 and 16 and just finished with two pars.”

The duo holds a two-shot cushion over Celina Yuan, from Sydney, Australia, who sits in third place at eight-under-par.

Players who finish in the top 30 and ties will earn Ladies European Tour Membership in category 8 for 2017, while those that finish from positions 31st to 60th and ties after the cut will earn Membership in Category 9b.