Millie Saroha got off to a fine start with 1-over 73 that gave her a share of the lead with Khushi Khanijau in the first round of the 11th leg of Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour.
Millie has been struggling this season with just one Top-10 finish.
Playing at the Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club, Millie had two birdies against three bogeys, while Khushi, whose best this season has been a seventh place in the eighth leg at Clover Greens, had four birdies and an eagle, but also gave away two bogeys and two double bogeys in her round.
Khushi had an excellent stretch from the sixth to eighth with a birdie on sixth, an eagle on seventh and a birdie again on eighth.
However, she dropped double bogeys on tenth and 12th and further bogeys on 15th and 16th. Apart from the three-hole stretch with birdie-eagle-birdie in the front nine, Khushi also carded birdies on 13th and 17th.
Afshan Fatima (74), who was fourth in the fifth leg in her best outing this season, had one birdie, one bogey and one double with 15 pars in her card.
None of the top three have won this season and so each of them has an incentive to go all out for the next two rounds.
Tvesa Malik, the pre-event favourite this week and the leader on the Hero Order of Merit, was Tied-4th with Amandeep Drall, winner of the 10th leg. Both shot 3-over 75. It was a disappointing day for both as Tvesa had just one birdie and Amandeep had two. Siddhi Kapoor was lying sixth with a card of 78.
Millie Saroha, Khushi Khanijau and Afshan Fatima will go out last in the leader group, preceded by Siddhi Kapoor, Amandeep Drall and Tvesa Malik in the second 3-ball. Ayesha Kapur, Sonam Chugh and Suchitra Ramesh will tee off in the first group.
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