Pune: Local girl Shweta Galande carded the only even par round of 72 on the first day to grab the lead in the sixth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Oxford Golf Resort here on Wednesday. Trailing her in joint second position at 1 over 73 are Kiran Matharu and Amandeep Drall. The INR 6,00,000 event featuring 19 players will culminate on 4th March.
Shweta had a shaky start, carding two bogeys on the 1st and 5th holes. Thereafter, she regained her composure and carded three birdies on the 6th, 10th and 14th holes while dropping just one shot in the back nine on the 18th. She finished with a score of par 72 to take the first round lead. Shweta has been guilty of not capitalizing on her first round performance several times in the past. She would be keen to add a third professional title.
Overseas player Kiran Matharu and Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall are tied for the second position with identical scores of 1 over 73. Kiran had an indifferent start, dropping three shots on the 1st, 3rd and 5th holes with just a lone birdie on the 4th in her front nine. She played with much more control in the latter half and carded two birdies on the 10th and 15th holes while dropping a shot on the very last hole. Amandeep, who is making a return to the Tour after a gap of one month, carded three birdies on the 2nd, 8th and 17th holes. Her campaign on the day also included four dropped shots on the 3rd, 4th, 13th and 16th holes.
Kolkata’s Smriti Mehra and the Delhi duo of Gauri Monga and Mehak Sharma are all tied for the fourth position with identical scores of 2 over 74. Smriti’s eventful round included three birdies on the 4th, 10th and 11th holes with an equal number of bogeys on the 1st, 12th and 15th. She also carded a double bogey on the 7th hole to finish two shots adrift of the leader. Mehak Sharma started impressively, carding three birdies on the 1st, 6thand 7th holes. However, the rookie from New Delhi could not sustain the momentum and carded five consecutive bogeys on the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th holes. Gauri’s card on the day included two birdies on the 2nd and 9th holes along with four bogeys on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 16th.
Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet is placed seventh with a score of 3 over 75, followed by Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana and Bengaluru’s Trisha Sunil in tied eighth position at 4 over 76.
