Nalini leads in Hero-WGAI women's golf

Gurgaon - Birdies were hard to come by on a tough opening day at the sixth leg of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro golf tour event at the Golden Greens Tuesday as Nalini Singh Siwach took the lead at the end of the first round with a card of 76.

Nalini, winner last week, was one shot cleat of Neha Tripathi and Smriti Mehra, who shot 77 each.

Interestingly, both Nalini and Neha had just one birdie each at the Golden Greens course, which proved a handful for the golfers.

Smriti turned in three birdies but also had six bogeys and one double. She had bogeys in her first three holes while her three birdies came on eighth, ninth and 18th.

Saaniya Sharma was the only other golfer to come inside 80 as she carded 79, while Preetinder Kaur shot 81. Nikki Ponappa and Ankita Tiwana carded 82 each.

Vani Kapoor had to struggle with a round of 83 that had seven bogeys and two doubles and no birdies.

Nalini had the best start with three pars and birdied the fourth. But she bogeyed the next four. Later she had just one more bogey and rest pars.

Pallavi Jain and Shraddhanjali Singh withdrew because of medical reasons, while Nalini Singh (88), Rashika Chauhan (88) and Rani Sonti (91) missed the cut.