Kolkata: Quiet and unassuming Afshan Fatima from Jaipur showed glimpses of her immense talent as she carded an ever par 70 to grab the lead in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Tollygunge Club here on Wednesday. Following her in joint second position are Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal and amateur Tvesa Malik at 1 over 71. The INR 6,00,000 event featuring 18 players will culminate on 12th February.
The professional from Jaipur played with much control, carding a bogey-free front-nine with a birdie on the 9th hole. She dropped two shots in the latter half on the 10th and 14th holes, but a birdie on the 18th was enough to take her to the top of the leaderboard.
Gursimar Badwal played an eventful front-nine with birdies on the 2nd, 8th and 9th holes while dropping shots on the 6th and 7th. Her back-nine included a bogey and a birdie apiece on the 12th and 14th holes respectively. She also carded a double on the 17th hole to share the second position with amateur Tvesa Malik. Tvesa had a shaky start, carding two bogeys on the 1st and 3rd holes, but birdies on the 7th and 9th helped her to restore parity. She added two more birdies on the 13th and 16th holes while dropping shots on the 11th, 17th and 18th to finish with a score of 1 over 71.
Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and overseas player Kiran Matharu carded identical totals of 2 over 72 to be placed tied fourth after the first round. Local girl Neha played a birdie-less front-nine with a double bogey on the 7th hole along with a triple on the 8th. However, a flurry of birdies on the 10th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes along with a lone bogey on the 11th helped her to repair the damage. Kiran’s round included three birdies on the 2nd, 13th and 15th holes with an equal number of bogeys on the 7th, 14th and 16th. She also carded a double on the 4th hole.
Kolkata’s Smriti Mehra and the Delhi trio of Ankita Tiwana, Mehar Atwal and Mehak Sharma are all placed tied sixth with identical scores of 4 over 74, followed by Jaipur’s Pallavi Jain in 10th position at 75. Pune’s Shweta Galande and Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma are placed tied 11th with scores of 6 over 76.
