Vani Kapoor carded the only sub par round of one under 70 to take the lead on the first day of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2017 at the Poona Club Golf Course here.
Trailing her in tied second position are Amandeep Drall, Gursimar Badwal and Gaurika Bishnoi — all with a score of four over 75 — at the INR 6,00,000 event, which will culminate on March 24.
Delhi’s Vani played out a front nine of fluctuating fortunes. She carded two birdies on the 4th and 8th holes, but dropped shots on the 5th and 9th. She started the return at level par, playing a more controlled and bogey free back nine with a solitary birdie on the 10th.
Panchkula’s Amandeep had an indifferent start, carding a bogey on the 2nd hole, but was able to neutralise the damage with a birdie on the 7th on her way out. On the return she could not sustain the momentum and carded a birdie less round with bogeys on 12th and 18th and also a double on the 17th.
Kapurthala’s Gursimar would have hoped for a better start, as she carded bogeys on the 1st, 2nd and 5th holes with a double on the 6th. Her lone birdie in the front nine came on the 7th. In her back nine she carded a birdie and a bogey apiece on the 12th and 13th holes respectively.
Gurgaon’s Gaurika carded a birdie on the 5th hole followed by bogeys on the 7th, 8th and 9th on the way out. The return saw a similar script, with a birdie on the 15th followed by dropped shots on the 16th, 17th and 18th.
Hero MotoCorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet is placed fifth with a score of six over 77. She carded a birdie less front nine with bogeys on the 2nd and 3rd and double bogeys on the 1st and 5th in her front nine. In her back nine, she carded a birdie on the 12th hole followed by bogeys on the 13th, 15th and 16th, but managed to recover lost ground with an eagle on the last hole.
Siddhi Kapoor, Trisha Sunil and Shweta Galande are all tied sixth with identical scores of seven over 78.
Siddhi carded a birdie on the 6th hole, while dropping shots on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 17th holes. Trisha’s card on the day included birdies on the 12th and 15th holes, while dropping shots on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th. She also carded two double bogeys on the 10th and 11th. Shweta’s lone birdie of the day came on the 9th hole, while she dropped shots on the 2nd, 3rd, 16th and 18th. Her card also included two double bogeys on the 6th and 17th.
Delhi’s Mehar Atwal took the ninth position with a score of eight over 79, followed by Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma in 10th position with a score of nine over 80.
