Afshan grabs Day One lead
Jaipur’s Afshan Fatima showed glimpses of her talent as she carded an ever par 70 to take the lead in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata on Wednesday. Following her were Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal and amateur Tvesa Malik at 1 over 71. The ` 6 lakh event featuring 18 players will culminate on Friday.
The professional from Jaipur played with control, returning a bogeyfree front- nine with a birdie on the 9th hole. She dropped two shots in the latter half, but a birdie on the 18th was enough to take her to the top of the leaderboard.
Gursimar played an eventful front nine with birdies on the 2nd, 8th and 9th holes while dropping shots on the 6th and 7th. Her back nine included a bogey and a birdie. She also carded a double on the 17th hole to share second place with Tvesa.
Tvesa had a shaky start, carding bogeys on the 1st and 3rd holes, but birdies on the 7th and 9th helped her restore parity. She added two more birdies while dropping three shots.
Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and overseas player Kiran Matharu carded 2 over 72s to be placed tied fourth. Local girl Neha played a birdieless front nine with a double bogey on the 7th hole along with a triple on the 8th.
However, a flurry of birdies on the 10th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes along with a bogey on the 11th helped her to repair the damage.
Kiran’s round included three birdies with an equal number of bogeys. She also carded a double on the 4th hole.
Kolkata’s Smriti Mehra and the Delhi trio of Ankita Tiwana, Mehar Atwal and Mehak Sharma were tied sixth on 4 over 74, followed by Jaipur’s Pallavi Jain in the 10th position at 75.
Pune’s Shweta Galande and Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma were tied 11th with scores of 6 over 76.