Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour: Vani Kapoor on top in difficult conditions

Coorg: On a day which saw just five birdies, Delhi youngster Vani Kapoor displayed great patience and composure to emerge as the leader with a five over 75 on the opening day of the Hero-CGL Women's Professional Golf Championship event here Wednesday.

Trailing Vani by just one shot is Kolkata's Smriti Mehra. Smriti looked set to share the lead with Vani but a mistake on the last hole saw her slip to second position.

Vani, who currently leads the Hero Order of Merit, had an indifferent front nine where she carded as many as five bogies. This includes four consecutive bogies on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes and another bogey on the 9th hole.

However her back nine were much more controlled as she carded just one bogie on the 10th hole with a lone birdie on the 14th hole.

Smriti, who came into this tournament after a convincing victory at Clover Greens, couldn't keep the momentum going on the first day. She played a birdie-less round and carded as many as 4 bogies on the 1st, 2nd 9th and 18th holes. She also carded a double bogie on the 4th hole & finished with a score of 6 over 76 after 18 holes.

Kapurtahala golfer Gursimar Badwal is placed third after the first round with a score of 7 over 77. She carded three bogies on the 1st, 8th and 13th holes along with two double bogies on the 3rd and 18th holes.

Her lone birdie came on the 11th hole. Neha Tripathi, currently placed second in the Hero Order of Merit with total earnings of INR 6, 66,000, had a good start and carded just two bogies on the 6th and 8th holes.

However she couldn't capitalise on her start as she carded 4 bogies on the 11th, 14th, 16th and 18th holes along with a double bogie on the 10th hole. She finished round 1 with a score of 8 over 78.

Nikki Ponappa, playing on her home course is placed sixth with a score of 10 over 80 after 18 holes. She carded five bogies on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 14th and 16th holes along with 3 double bogies on the 10th, 11th and 17th holes.

She also carded birdies during on the 4th and 12th holes, and was the only player to card two birdies on the day.

Jaipur's Pallavi Jain, Delhi's Ankita Tiwana and Chandigarh golfer Saaniya Sharma are placed sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.