Vani, Shweta share lead in Hero women's golf

Vani Kapoor of India (second from left) – File Photo

Rookie golfer Shweta Galande and Delhi’s Vani Kapoor shared the lead with identical par scores at the end of Round 1 of the Hero-KGA Women’s Pro-Golf Championship.

The eighth leg of the Rs.5 lakh tourney is being played at the KGA golf course from Aug 21-23.

Shweta had a strong start with two consecutive birdies on the third and fourth hole followed by three more birdies on the seventh, 10th and 11th. She would have been in sole lead had she not faultered with a bogey on the sixth and two double bogeys on the ninth and 14th holes.

Vani, however, had a consistent day finishing as the joint leader with one birdie on the 10th hole and a bogey on the 16th.

Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana was third with a score of four over 76. She had a rough day with five bogeys on the third, fourth, eighth, 14th and 18th holes and a single birdie on the 13th.

In-form Kolkata golfer Neha Tripathi had a bad day at office, finishing six over 78 and tied fourth with Kenya’s Bhavi Shah. Neha suffered early setbacks with two consecutive bogeys on the second and third followed by six more bogeys on the sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th, 12th and 17th. She managed to undo some damage with four birdies on the fourth, eighth, 10th and 15th.

Veteran golfer Smriti Mehra was tied sixth with Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma and Delhi’s Shraddhanjali Singh with identical scores of seven over 79.

Leaderboard:

1T Shweta Galande 72

1T Vani Kapoor 72

3 Ankita Tiwana 76

4T Bhavi Shah 78

4T Neha Tripathi 78

6T Smriti Mehra 79

6T Saaniya Sharma 79

6T Shraddhanjali Singh 79

9 Pallavi Jain 80

10 Meghna Bal 81