Vani Kapoor swings to lead in the opening round of fifth leg in the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour

Vani Kapoor

Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS)

Vani Kapoor carded one-under 69 to grab the opening round lead in the fifth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour here Wednesday. Vani, who currently leads the Hero Order of Merit, led by one stroke against Gursimar Badwal and Kiran Matharu -- both scored par-70 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club.

Vani played a bogey-free front nine with birdies on the fifth and eighth holes. However, she faltered and dropped shots on the 10th and 15th holes but a birdie on the 18th hole placed her one shot clear of the pack.

Gursimar carded five birdies on the first, fifth, eighth, 14th and 18th, maximum by any golfer on the day. However, three bogeys on the 10th, 15th and 16th along with a double bogey on the ninth spoilt her scoreline, and she had to be content with the second spot.

She is tied second with Kiran with identical scores of par-70. Kiran carded three birdies on the second, eighth and 12th, with an equal number of bogeys on the third, 13th and 14th holes.

Sharmila Nicollet and Panchkula's Amandeep Drall are tied fourth with identical scores of one-over 71 after 18 holes.

Bengaluru's Sharmila started impressively, carding a birdie on the first hole, with two more on the 10th and 17th. However, she also dropped four shots on the seventh, ninth, 13th and 15th.

Amandeep carded two birdies on the fourth and 12th holes along with three bogeys on the seventh, 14th and 17th to finish ahead of veteran Smriti Mehra.

Smriti finished with a score of 72 and is placed sixth after the first day's play. She is followed by Jaipur's Pallavi Jain and Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma, who are placed seventh and eighth respectively.