Neha Tripathi, still looking for her first win of the season, opened with a round of 75 to take a share of the lead in the seventh leg of the Hero-WGAI women’s pro golf tour on Wednesday with Smriti Mehra, who has won three of the six legs so far in the season.
Trailing them were Vani Kapoor and Shraddhanjali Singh with cards of 76 each. Nalini Singh Siwach and Saaniya Sharma, who shot 77 each to be tied for fifth.
Smriti, four over after 15 holes made a late surge with two birdies on the 16th and 17th, but spoilt her finish with a bogey on the closing 18th.
Neha had just one birdie on the fourth as against four bogeys, two of which came on par-fives.
Poor finishing cost Saaniya and Vani heavily. Saaniya looked set for the lead, but a nightmarish finish saw her double-bogey the 16th and then triple bogey the 18th, to drop from even par to five over in a matter of three holes.
Saaniya was the only player with three birdies and they came in a space of four holes on the fifth, sixth and eighth holes and she turned in even par, but her 41 for the second nine saw her drop steeply.
Another to spoil her finish was Vani, who was just one-over till she came to the 16th tee. She bogeyed her last three holes to fall to four-over.
Shraddhanjali Singh had two birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey in her 76.