Vani Kapoor grabs early lead

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor carded 1 under 70 to take the lead on Day 1 of the 18th and final leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur on Wednesday.

Trailing her by two strokes is Ankita Tiwana. The Rs 5,00,000 event will culminate on Friday.Vani started the quest for her sixth title of the season aggressively with three birdies against two dropped shots in her front nine. One more bogey brought her to par but two birdies helped regain the initiative.

Ankita played cautiously in her front nine, dropping just two shots while carding a birdie. She made no further mistakes during the day and played an even par back nine.

Ankita won her maiden title in Srinagar last year and she will be eager to make the most of a good start by claiming the final event of the year.

Pune’s Shweta Galande carded 3 over 74 to take third place with a mixed bag, while Smriti Mehra, Jaipur’s Afshan Fatima and Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall all had 75s, to be tied tied fourth.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal and overseas player Kiran Matharu were tied seventh with 77 followed by Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and Delhi’s Ayesha Kapur in tied ninth position with scores of 80.