Montauban (France), Jun 8 (PTI) India's leading amateur Avani Prashanth (71) fought back on the back nine with two birdies and seven pars to shoot 1-under 71 and was T-14 after the opening day at the Montauban Ladies Open here.

Avani, the top amateur on the Indian Golf Union roster, had two birdies and three bogeys on the front none, and she turned in 1-over. On the back nine, she birdied 15th and 16th to get under par.

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Durga Nittur, the second Indian in the field, shot 3-over 75. She had an interesting card with an eagle, two birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey. She was lying T-53rd and will need a good second round.

The 54-hole stroke play competition will see a cut to the top 45 professionals and ties after 36 holes

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Australia's Kelsey Bennett carded a personal best of nine-under-par, 63 on the LET Access Series.

Four shots behind Bennett lies England's Amy Taylor, who also fired a flawless round of five birdies to finish the first round on five-under-par 67.

In tied-third place lies Norway's Karoline Lund and Austria's Katharina Muehlbauer on four-under-par.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)