Bangalore golfer Sharmila Nicollet took an early lead after the first round of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour event being played at Jaypee Greens here today.
Sharmila played a bogey free round to finish ahead of veteran Smriti Mehra and Pune's Shweta Galande, who are tied second after 18 holes.
Sharmila wasn't in the best of form coming into the tournament but she turned things around to card the day's only under par score of 1 under 71. She played a consistent round in tough conditions and carded a lone birdie on the 12th hole. Trailing Sharmila by one shot are Smriti Mehra and Shweta Galande with a score of par 72.
Smriti's front nine consisted of two bogies on the 2nd and 4th holes along with a birdie on the 6th hole. She carded two more birdies on the 12th and 16th holes. She looked set to share the lead with Sharmila but faltered on the last hole to drop to second position. Shweta on the other hand played a controlled round to card one birdie on the 6th hole and a bogey on the 12th hole.
Local girl Vaishavi Sinha and Kapurthala golfer Gursimar Badwal are tied fourth after the first round with a score of 2 over 74. Vaishavi, playing in her fourth event of the tour started impressively. She played a bogey free front nine with a birdie on the 5th hole.
However her back nine wasn't as impressive and she faltered to card three bogies on the 14th, 15th and 17th holes. Gursimar took the honours for maximum birdies in the first round. She carded four birdies on the 6th, 13th 15th and 16th holes. However, she also carded four bogies on the 4th, 12th, 14th and 18th holes with a double bogey on the 7th hole.
Delhi's Ankita Tiwana is placed sixth with a score of 3 over 75. She carded four bogies on the 2nd, 14th, 15th and 17th holes. Her only birdie came on the 16th hole. Kolkata's Neha Tripathi is placed seventh, just ahead of Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor. Both Neha and Vani had a forgettable outing and struggled to get any momentum going. Neha finished round one with a score of 5 over 77 while Vani finished with 6 over 78.
Pallavi Jain and Saaniya Sharma are tied ninth followed by Priya Puri and Preetinder Kaur. The INR 5,00,000 is being played at Jaypee Greens and will culminate on 31st October 2014
The Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour 2014 has showcased some keen golf in several events spanning across key locations in India, and is likely to culminate next month.
