Veteran Smriti Mehra rewrote Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour's record by registering the lowest single round score of seven-under 65, but Kiran Matharu fired 66 in the second round to retain the lead in the eighth leg here on Thursday.
Following Kiran by a single shot deficit was veteran golfer Smriti, who finished with a total score of 134 at the Classic Golf & Country Club.
Smriti bettered her own record of six-under 64 at the par-70 Clover Greens course, Hosur in Tamil Nadu in 2013. She also established a new course record by a lady golfer at the Gurgaon-based course.
The other highlight of an exciting day was an eagle by Saaniya Sharma on the 14th hole.
Kiran had a scratchy start, carding a bogey on the first hole. However, she made amends by carding four birdies on the third, fourth, fifth and ninth holes in her front nine.
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She retained the momentum on her back nine, firing four consecutive birdies on the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, while dropping just one shot on the 16th. She finished with a total score of 133 after 36 holes.
Smriti's round of seven-under 65 consisted of a single bogey on the second along with eight birdies on the eightrd, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 14th and 18th. She lags behind leader Kiran by a stroke and would be keen to overtake her for a hat-trick victory in the final round on Friday.
Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor made a strong comeback in the second round, after her even-par effort on the first day. She shot 66 with birdies on the fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 11th, 12th and 15th.
The only blemish on her scorecard was a bogey on the 17th. She is placed third with a total score of 138.
Noida's Vaishavi Sinha is placed fourth with a total score of 139. She carded six birdies against a bogey on the first and a double bogey on the 17th.
Pune's Shweta Galande is fifth with a total score of 140. She carded 70. Kolkata's Neha Tripathi is placed sixth with a total score of 142, followed by Panchkula's Amandeep Drall and Priya Puri, who are tied seventh with identical totals of 146.