Late birdie hands Neha 2- shot lead

A three- shot swing on the 18th hole handed Neha Tripathi a twoshot lead over closest rival Saaniya Sharma in the first round of the third leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour in Pune on Wednesday.

Neha was the only player to birdie the challenging 18th hole and it gave her a card of one- under 70, which included three birdies and two bogeys. Saaniya ( 72) seemed all set for the lead before finishing with a disappointing double bogey.

Saaniya was sole second while Gursimar Badwal ( 73), who has finished tied third in the two previous legs, was again lying T3 alongside Trisha Sunil. Tvesa Malik and Ayesha Kapur were T5 with 74s.

Neha, who had three wins in the 2017 Hero WPGT season, started off well with a series of pars and two birdies on the front nine that saw her turn in twounder. Two bogeys brought her score down to even par for the round.

Playing alongside Neha was Saaniya with four birdies against three bogeys. She was one- under when she came to the 18th tee. Neha birdied the final hole but Saaniya double bogeyed, leading to the three- shot change.

Gursimar, even par at the turn with one bogey and one birdie, had an eventful four holes at the start of the back nine wit hthree bogeys and a birdie before finishing with five straight pars for a round of 73.

Trisha was flawless on the front nine and like Neha, was two- under at the turn. She, however, stumbled on the back nine, as she double bogeyed the par- 5 12th and dropped two more shots on the par- 3 13th and par- 4 17th.

Sonam Chugh ( 76) and Mehar Atwal ( 77) were seventh and eighth, while Afshan Fatima and Siddhi Kapoor were T9 at 78. Smriti Mehra ( 79) was 11th with Millie Saroha ( 80) 12th.

Saaniya Sharma was sole second while Gursimar Badwal was lying tied third alongside Trisha Sunil