Ahmedabad: Smriti Mehra carded one-over 73 in difficult conditions to grab the lead on day one of the second leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens here on Tuesday. One stroke behind in tied second position are Vani Kapoor and Amandeep Drall. The INR 7,00,000 event will culminate on 14th January.

Kolkata’s Smriti Mehra started cautiously, carding two birdies on the 6th and 7th holes while dropping a shot on the 5th in her front nine. She didn’t have the best of starts in her back nine and started with a double bogey on the 10th hole. Thereafter, she played with much more control, adding two birdies on the 11th and 14th holes with an equal number of bogies on the 12th and 18th to stay one shot clear of Vani Kapoor and Amandeep Drall.

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor played with utmost caution on the day. The professional from Delhi played a birdie-less round with just two bogies on the 4th and 18th holes. Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall had an indifferent start and carded three bogies on the 4th, 6th and 7th holes with a double on the 9th, while carding just two birdies on the 5th and 8th holes in her front nine. She dropped two more shots in the latter half on the 11th and 14th holes, but three late birdies on the 15th, 16th and 18th holes helped her to control the damage and she finished the day with a score of 2 over 74. Her tally of five birdies was the maximum by any golfer on the day.

Overseas player Kiran Matharu is placed fourth with a score of 3 over 75 after 18 holes. She played a birdie-less front nine with two bogies on the 1st and 3rd holes. In the latter half she added three more bogies on the 10th, 13th and 18th holes as against two birdies on the 12th and 14th. Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma returned with a card of 4 over 76 on the day to take the fifth place. Her card included three birdies on the 6th, 12th and 16th holes with a bogey on the 10th. However, three double bogies on the 2nd, 13th and 14th holes marred her scoreline and she had to be content with the fifth place.

Kapurthala golfer Gursimar Badwal is placed sixth with a score of 5 over 77, followed by Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana in tied seventh position with identical totals of 7 over 79.