Women golfers Mehar, Kiran in joint lead

MEHAR ATWAL AND KIRAN MATHUR returned with identical scores of 3 over 75 in the first round to grab the lead in the first leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Kensville Golf and Country Club in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Trailing them in third position by a single stroke is Vani Kapoor at the Rs.7 lakh event, which is featuring 13 professionals.

Delhi's Mehar had an indifferent start, dropping consecutive shots on the first and second holes. Thereafter, she seemed to settle down but a double on the seventh further added to her woes. She played with much more control in the latter half, carding two birdies on the 12th and 16th with a lone bogey on the 13th.

Overseas player Kiran carded two bogeys on the second and seventh holes with a lone birdie on the sixth. She added another birdie on the 13th and looked set to grab the sole lead, but three consecutive bogeys on the 16th, 17th and 18th meant she had to share the lead.

Delhi's Vani carded 4 over 76. Her round consisted of two birdies on the eighth and 14th along with six bogeys on the second, sixth, 10th, 11th, 16th and 17th.

Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal and Pune's Shweta Galande returned with identical scores of 7 over 79 to be place tied fourth after 18 holes. Gursimar played a birdie-less round with five bogeys (first, third, seventh, 10th, 14th) and a double on the 16th. Shweta too struggled and dropped five shots on the third, eighth, 14th, 15th and 17th with a double on the 13th.

Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma and Delhi's Ankita Tiwana are tied sixth, both returning with the same score 8 over 80. Following them in tied eighth are Jaipur's Afshan Fatima and Kolkata's Neha Tripathi. The only highlight of the day was the first eagle of the season by Smriti Mehra on the 14th hole.