Sharmila Nicollet carded the only sub-par round of three under 67 to grab the lead on the second day of the Hero Womens Professional Golf Tour at the Tollygunge Club here on Wednesday.
Trailing her by a margin of one shot are Amandeep Drall and Vani Kapoor with identical scores of 143.
Sharmila made an impressive comeback from eighth position to take the lead after the second round.
She started with aplomb, carding a bogey-free front nine, with birdies on the second, third and seventh holes.
In her back nine, she carded a birdie and a bogey apiece on the 13th and 16th holes respectively, to put herself in a strong position to win her first event of the current season.
Panchkula's Amandeep played with utmost caution, carding an even par front nine. She carded a birdie on the 13th hole, but could not sustain the momentum and dropped shots on the 14th, 16th and 17th holes to finish her round with a score of two over 72.
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Delhi golfer Vani's round was a mixed bag. She had a shaky start, carding a bogey on the very first hole.
She went on to card birdies on the third, sixth and seventh holes, while dropping two shot on the fifth and one on the eighth in her front nine.
On her way in, she carded birdies on the 12th and 15th holes, but again lost the advantage with bogeys on the 10th and 14th.
A double bogey on the 18th hole did not help matters and she finished her round with a score of three over 73.
Overnight leader Saaniya would have hoped for a better day as her lone birdie of the day came on the fourth hole.
Her error prone round included bogeys on the eighth, ninth, 12th, 14th and 18th holes, and also a double on the seventh.
She ended the day in fourth position with a score of six over 76 and a total of 145 after 36 holes.
She was followed by Delhi's Mehar Atwal in fifth position with a total score of 147 after the second round.
Mehar's card on the day included a solitary birdie on the eighth with bogeys on the ninth, 11th and 18th and also a double bogey on the 12th.
Jaipur's Afshan Fatima, Kolkata's Smriti Mehra and Gurgaon's Gaurika Bishnoi are all tied in sixth position with identical scores of 148 at the end of the second round.
--IANS
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