Guntas Sandhu stays top-20 as two Indians make WAAP cut in Wellington

Guntas Sandhu booked her place in the weekend rounds at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) Championship as two of the four Indians in the field made the halfway cut at Royal Wellington.

Sandhu followed her opening 1-under 71 with a 1-over 73 in rainy conditions to stand even-par through 36 holes and sit tied 19th, keeping herself inside the top 20 heading into the weekend.

The only other Indian to advance was Ananyaa Sood, who carded 74-75 to be tied 43rd. Zara Anand (79-79) and Jia Kataria (81-81) missed the cut.

At the top of the leaderboard, Korea’s Yunseo Yang moved into a commanding position, opening up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage. Yang backed up her opening 8-under 64 with a 5-under 67 to reach 13-under 131 — a new WAAP record for the lowest 36-hole total, bettering the previous mark by one.

Yang’s closest challengers are fellow Korean Gyu Been Kim and the Philippines’ Rianne Malixi, the 2024 US Women’s Amateur champion.

Sumin Hong and Japan’s Ai Goto share fourth at 7-under 137, while last year’s runner-up Soomin Oh sits tied sixth at 6-under 138 alongside Australia’s Jazy Roberts.

With Sandhu still well placed, India will have two players in action over the final two rounds as the WAAP heads into its decisive stretch in Wellington.