February 23, 2016: The ageless wonder of Indian golf produced yet another master class in the first round of the fifth leg on the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour. Smriti Mehra outshone the field on Tuesday to gain a three shot lead over Gursimar Badwal at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Mumbai.
Mehra shot a brilliant 67 including four birdies and an eagle to the final hole to surge ahead of competition to underline her continuing quest for golfing excellence.
Smriti started with a bogey on the first hole, but made amends through birdies at the 3rd and 8th holes to ensure she made the turn at one under par.
She went on to birdie three of the first four holes on the back nine to stamp her authority on the field, some of them nearly half her age. Smriti took 34 and 33 shots on either stretch to put some distance between him and the field.
Gursimar continued her good run of form with an even 70 including birdies on the 8th and 18th hole. Neha Tripathi, looking to make it three in a row, shot 71 to end the day in third place. She was 2-under through 10 holes, but double bogeys at the 11th and 16th holes hurt her card.
Kiran Matharu and Sharmila Nicollet fired eagles as they helped themselves into tied fourth place after 18 holes, with a score of two over 72.
Mehak Sharma, Ankita Tiwana and Mehar Atwal tied for seventh with a score of 73. Shweta Galande rounded off the top 10, making a 74 in her trek around the course. Shweta was one over through 13, but gave away three bogeys in the last five holes to slip down the order.
Debutant Sonam Chugh had a difficult outing, shooting 80 in her first round as a professional golfer. Priya Puri needed 42 strokes to get through the front nine, before withdrawing on medical grounds.
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- Women
- anand datla
- HWPGT
- smriti mehra
- wgai
