February 03, 2016: At the end of a modest day of golf from the women, it was Gursimar Badwal who edged ahead of the field at the end of the first round of the 3rd leg on the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour. Badwal shot three over 75 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club to gain a one shot lead over Sharmila Nicollet. Veteran Smriti Mehra and Shweta Galande, both made 77 to end up third on the leader board.
Gursimar got off to a patchy start on a humid day in Kolkata. She took a bogey at the short par-3 second hole (139yds) and followed that with another lost shot at the 368 yard third hole to slip to two over.
The young golfer made a birdie at the par-5 fourth hole, but a double bogey at the next hole set her back to three over for the round. Badwal put in a composed performance from there, making thirteen straight pars to end the first day with a narrow lead over her competitors.
Sharmila made a slew of bogeys on the front nine – five of them, including three straight from the fifth hole – before she too made nine consecutive pars on the back nine to account for her 76.
Smriti suffered five bogeys on her first nine, making the turn in 41 shots. On the back nine, she shot an even number of birdies & bogeys – three each of them to settle in two behind the leader.
Shweta made two pairs of bogeys on the front nine, before adding another at the 16th hole to join Smriti in joint third at the end of 18 holes.
Neha Tripathi was lying fifth, after making 78 in the first round. Ankita Tiwana and Afshan Fatima made 79 each to end the first day lying in T6.
Amateur Tvesa Malik had two double bogeys and five bogeys in her return of 80 on a course that proved demanding for the women golfers in the field.
Already twice a winner this season, Vani Kapoor is not playing this week, as she is overseas on other golfing commitments.
- In this article
- Pros
- anand datla
- gursimar badwal
- HWPGT
- sharmila nicollet
