Smriti Mehra grabs Day 1 lead

Smriti Mehra carded a one over 73 in difficult conditions to grab the lead on Day One of the second leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. One stroke behind tied second are Vani Kapoor and Amandeep Drall.

Kolkata’s Mehra started cautiously, carding two birdies while dropping a shot in her front nine. She didn’t have the best of starts on her back nine, opening with a double bogey. Thereafter, she played with much more control, adding two birdies and an equal number of bogies.

Hero Order of Merit leader Kapoor played with utmost caution on the day. The professional from Delhi played a birdie-less round with just two bogies. Panchkula’s Drall had an indifferent start and carded three bogies with a double on the 9th and two birdies on her front nine.

She dropped two more shots in the latter half, but three late birdies helped control the damage and Drall finished the day with a score of 2 over 74. Her tally of five birdies was the most on the day.

Overseas player Kiran Matharu was fourth with a 75. She played a birdie-less front nine with two bogies. In the latter half she added three more bogies as against two birdies.

Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma returned a card of 4 over 76 to hold fifth place. Her card included three birdies and a bogey on the 10th.

However, three double bogies dented her scoreline.Kapurthala golfer Gursimar Badwal was sixth with a 5 over 77, followed by Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana in tied seventh with totals of 7 over 79.