Delhi's Ankita Tiwana and local girl Sharmila Nicollet shared the lead with identical scores of one under 71 on the opening day of the 11th Leg of the Rs 7,00,000 Hero women's Professional golf Tour at the Prestige golfshire here on Wednesday.
Trailing them at tied third position are Mehar Atwal and Amandeep Drall with a score of par 72.
Ankita started cautiously in her front nine, and carded a bogey and birdie apiece on the fourth and ninth holes respectively. In the back nine, she dropped a single shot on the 13th hole, while adding two more birdies on the 12th and 16th to finish the round with score of one under 71.
Sharmila carded a birdie on the ninth hole, while dropping two shots on the second and seventh holes in her front nine. She put up a much improved performance in the latter half, firing three birdies on the 13th, 14th, and 18th holes, while dropping a single shot on the 12th to join Ankita at the top.
Delhi girl Mehar carded a birdie on the second hole while dropping two shots on the fourth and seventh holes in her front nine. She played a more controlled back nine, adding two more birdies on the 12th and 13th holes while carding a bogey on the 11th.
Chandigarh golfer Amandeep played a blemish-free front nine, carding two birdies on the second and eighth holes. However, two back to back bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes meant she couldn't finish with an under par score.
Kolkata's Neha Tripathi, who is currently leading the Hero Order of Merit, is placed fifth with a score of one over 73 after 18 holes. Neha's card on the day included two birdies on the seventh and 10th holes along with a bogey on the third and a double bogey on the ninth hole.
Delhi's Vani Kapoor with local girls Nikki Ponappa and Trisha Sunil, are all tied for the sixth position with identical scores of two over 74 after the first round.
Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma is placed ninth with a score of three over 75, followed by Mysore's Sonam Chugh at 10th position with a score of four over 76 and Kolkata's Siddhi Kapoor at 11th with a score of five over 77 after 18 holes.
--IANS
tri/vt
