Vani Kapoor leads by one in Mumbai

Edited by Anand Datla

February 18, 2015: Vani Kapoor played the only under-par round of 1 under 69 to grab the early lead in the 5th Leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour. Trailing Vani by one stroke are Gursimar Badwal and Kiran Matharu who are tied for the second spot after the first round. The INR 6,00,000 event is being played at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, Mumbai and will culminate on 20th February.

Vani who currently leads the Hero Order of Merit played a bogey-free front nine with birdies on the 5th and 8thholes. However, she faltered and dropped shots on the 10th and 15th holes but a birdie on the 18th hole placed her one shot clear of the pack. Gursimar Badwal carded five birdies on the 1st, 5th, 8th, 14th and 18th holes, maximum by any golfer on the day. However, three bogies on 10th, 15th and 16th holes along with a double bogey on the 9th hole spoilt her score line, and she had to be content with the second spot. She is tied second with Kiran Matharu with identical scores of par 70. Kiran carded three birdies on the 2nd, 8th and 12th holes, with an equal number of bogies on the 3rd, 13th and 14th holes.

Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet and Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall are tied fourth with identical scores of 1 over 71 after 18 holes. Bengaluru’s Sharmila started impressively, carding a birdie on the 1st hole, with two more on the 10th and 17th holes. However, she also dropped four shots on the 7th, 9th, 13th and 15thholes. Amandeep carded two birdies on the 4th and 12th holes along with three bogies on the 7th, 14th and 17th holes to finish ahead of veteran Smriti Mehra.

Smriti Mehra started and ended her round with birdies on the 1st and 18th holes. She dropped two shots on the 3rd and 5th holes, along with a double bogey on the 15th hole. She finished with a score of 2 over 72 and is placed sixth after the first day’s play. She is followed by Jaipur’s Pallavi Jain and Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma, who are placed seventh and eighth respectively.