Noida: Vani Kapoor, Smriti Mehra and Gursimar Badwal finished with identical totals of 149 to tie for the first place at the end of the second round of the 17th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 at the Noida Golf Course here on Thursday. Trailing the trio in fourth position is Neha Tripathi who finished with a total score of 151 after Round two. The INR 5,00,000 event will culminate tomorrow.

Starting the day in tied third position, Smriti Mehra carded a level par score, the best performance of the day to jump into the tied first position. The Kolkata professional had an eventful front nine with two consecutive birdies on the 1st and 2nd holes and a bogey and a double on the 4th and 5th holes respectively. She did not get the best of starts in her back nine and dropped two consecutive shots on the 11th and 12th holes. She recovered well, carding three birdies on the 14th, 17th and 18th holes. Her tally of five birdies was the maximum by any player on the day.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal who started the day in second position came up with a cautious performance to end the day with a score of 2 over 74. She began her round with a birdie on the 1st hole, but bogies on the 4th and 9th holes pegged her back, before a birdie on the 10th helped her restore parity. She then dropped three consecutive shots on the 11th, 12th and 13th holes, but a birdie on the 14th helped her stay in contention for her maiden professional title.

Overnight leader Vani Kapoor had a woeful day in the field today as she returned with a card of 5 over 77. The Hero Order Merit leader’s round consisted of six bogies on the 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 16thholes, with just a lone birdie on the 14th.

Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi finished with a score of 2 over 74 to be placed fourth. She started aggressively carding three birdies on the 4th, 6th and 7th holes, while dropping shots on the 3rd and 8th holes. She however, could not keep the momentum going in the back-nine and dropped four shots on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 18th holes, with a lone birdie on the 13th.

Delhi’s Gauri Monga finished with a total score of 152 at fifth place after 36 holes. Gauri’s round of 3 over 75 consisted of two birdies on the 7th and 14th holes, and bogies on the 3rd, 12th, 16th, 17th and 18thholes.

Panchkula’s Amandeep Drall who ended Round two with a total of 153 is in the sixth position. Her round included two birdies on the 5th and 7th holes as against bogies on the 2nd, 4th, 8th, 9th, and 11th holes.

Amateur Tavleen Batra is in the seventh position with a total of 159 followed by English player Kiran Matharu, Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana and Pune’s Shweta Galande in tied eight position with identical scores of 161.

The Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 comprises a total of 18 legs spanning across key locations in India.