Avani Prashanth becomes 1st Indian woman to play Augusta National final round

Avani Prashanth will become the first Indian woman golfer to play a competitive round at the fabled Augusta National Golf Club after rounds of 76-73 in difficult conditions at the at the National Women's Amateur Championship.

When play ended in the second round, she was tied 21st after 36 holes, while Indian-American Megha Ganne (73-80) missed the cut. Ganne hit headlines in US Women's Open, where she was the top amateur after being among contenders for a while in the tournament. Lying tied 26th when play was suspended after her two rounds, she had to wait overnight for others to finish to see if she would be among top-30 from a field of 72 who started at the Champions Retreat.

The top-30 make the cut for the final round, which is to be played on Saturday at the Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the 86th Masters next week. When second play finally ended Avani moved up to tied 21st and easily made the cut, which was a sigh of relief.

"I came here to do well and this is the first step. I have one more round at the famous Augusta and I am excited," said Avani. The Augusta National Women's Amateur is a 54-hole stroke play that features 72 of the top women amateurs from around the world.

The tournament is split between two venues, with Champions Retreat hosting the opening rounds on Wednesday and Thursday. A practice round at Augusta National is played on Friday with the full field. The field is then pruned to the top 30 players (with a play-off for the last spots if necessary) for the final round Saturday at Augusta National.