Smriti, Nalini share lead
Smriti Mehra
Smriti Mehra played a tidy round of even-par 72 to join Nalini Singh Siwach (75) in the lead at the end of the second round of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour, the eighth leg of the Indian women’s domestic tour in Gurgaon on Thursday.
Nalini, who played steady on the first day, however, struggled on Thursday. Saaniya Sharma repeated her first round score of 74 to be third.
Neha Tripathi looked like finally doing justice to her ability as she turned in three-under, but three bogeys on the back nine brought her back to even par and she finished the Round Two at tied fourth at 149 along with Vani Kapoor (74), who seemed lacklustre with two birdies and four bogeys, including one on the par-5 18th.
Ankita Tiwana (80, 74) was sixth.
Smriti, who has won three times in seven starts this season and leads the Order of Merit race by a handy margin, opened with a bogey and had a second one on the seventh to be two-over. But she used all her experience to haul herself out of the slump with birdies on the ninth and 15th and pars for the rest for a 72.
Nalini just did not get going as she bogeyed the third and eighth, though the birdie on 10th gave her some confidence, but with putts not falling and two more bogeys on the 12th and 17th, she finished with a 75.
The stage is now set for a keen tussle between Smriti and Nalini, but with Saaniya just one shot behind, and Neha and Vani only two behind, the top five are within two shots of each other.
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