Vani Kapoor holds slender lead on opening day

Vani Kapoor turned in a card of three-under to grab the lead on Day 1.

Gurugram, October 24: Vani Kapoor kicked off her domestic return on a positive note as she grabbed the opening day lead of the 14th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Tuesday (October 24). This tournament will play a crucial role as the upcoming Hero Women’s Indian Open will be held at the very course. And needless to say the top stars playing this week will look to make the most of this opportunity.

Vani, who returned to the tournament after a gap of four legs, carded a total of three-under-75, to head into the second day with a one-shot lead, at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram.

Meanwhile Amandeep Drall turned in a card of four-under-76 to end the day on second. Three golfers were clustered for the third spot, including Saaniya Sharma, amateur Pranavi Urs and Tvesa Malik with a total of five-under-77.

Vani, who had been out of the domestic league due to her international commitments and her health, did not get off to the perfect start, but managed to hold onto to the lead.

23-year-old Vani started the day on the wrong foot as she lost a shot on the third hole. Except from that the Delhi golfer played out an even-par front nine.

But the back-nine troubled Vani as she carded a double bogey on the 11th, followed by a bogey on the 14th. Her only relief of the day came on the par-3 16th hole, where she saved a shot and eventually ended the day with a one-shot lead.

Meanwhile, Amandeep had a mixed round. Starting off with a bogey the pro saved the very next shot before again losing a shot on the third and then fourth. Starting the back-nine Drall also carded a double-bogey on the 11th. She followed it up with two back-to-back saved shots on the 12th and 13th. But as luck would have it Drall followed it up with back-to-back bogeys on 14th and 15th. In the only relief Amandeep saved a stroke on the last hole to sit second on the leaderboard.

Another top star Neha Tripathi was tied-ninth along with veteran golfer Smriti Mehra with a similar scorecard of seven-under-79.