The first round of the 13th leg on the WGAI Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour got off to a tight start. The top seven women are all within three shots of each other, setting the stage for an intensely competitive week in Noida. Gursimar Badwal was the best woman on the day, shooting one under 71 for a one stroke advantage of Vani Kapoor.
Amandeep Drall and Afshan Fatima continued to play well, producing 73 each to sit right behind Vani in T3 through 18 holes.
Gursimar started her day with a birdie at the first hole, before adding two more at the 10th and 11th holes. But she suffered bogeys at the 4th and 18th to settle for a 71.
Vani was even through six holes, before conceding her first bogey at the par-4 7th hole. She made immediate amends with a birdie at the 381 yard ninth hole to keep the tab even on her card.
The Delhi golfer made six straight pars again before going under par with a birdie at the par-3 16th hole. But she copped a bogey on the next hole to return the advantage back to the course.
Mehar Atwal, Saaniya Sharma and Ankita Tiwana are all tied in fifth another shot behind Drall and Fatima on 74.
Amateur golfer Anisha Padukone and Shweta Galande were lying T8 after both girls made 75 on Wednesday.
Ayesha Kapur occupied the tenth spot with a 77 in the first round. Another amateur Shreya Ghei shot 78, the same score as Trisha Sunil.
Sonam Chugh made a double bogey at the ninth hole, seven other bogeys and two birdies to account for her 79. Neha Tripathi needed 41 shots on either side for her disappointing card of 82.
Vandana Agarwal brought up the rear end with a struggling 87 and Rani Sonti departed after the first round on the +16 rule.
Rani made 91, which meant she was four adrift of the 87 needed to continue playing. The WGAI rules drop any player that is more than sixteen shots adrift of the first round leader.
