Vani fires 68 for Day 2 lead

Delhi golfer Vani Kapoor fired a four-under 68 to grab the Day Two lead in the second leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Trailing her by four strokes were Kiran Matharu and Amandeep Drall on 146 in the `7 lakh event that culminates on Thursday.

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani, who started the day tied second after playing a birdie-less round on Tuesday, displayed supreme form to card a total of 142.

She had a bogey-free front nine with back-to-back birdies from the second hole. She fired four more birdies in the latter half, including a hat-trick from the 11th but dropped shots on the 10th and 18th to finish with a total of 142 after 36 holes.

Going into the final round with a four-stroke cushion, Vani is eyeing her second consecutive title of the season. Kiran carded a one-under 71, only the other sub-par score of the round, to jump into a tie for second.

She started impressively with two birdies and had another on her back nine, but two bogies pulled her back. Panchkula golfer Amandeep carded an even-par 72 on the day to retain her tied second position.

Her round included three birdies with an equal number of bogies to finish the day with a total of 146.Kapurthala golfer Gursimar Badwal managed a one-over 73 to stand fourth with 150.

She carded five birdies, while dropping shots on the 10th and 18th along with double bogies on the 3rd and 15th.

Overnight leader Smriti Mehra could not reproduce her Day One form, returning a disappointing seven-over 79 to be tied fifth with Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana on 152.

Following them were Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma and Delhi’s Mehar Atwal in seventh and eighth place, respectively.