Mehar hits the front after carding one under-par

Defending champion Mehar Atwal played the only under-par round of one under 71 to grab the lead on the first day of the 10th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Eagleton Golf Resort here on Wednesday.

Trailing Atwal by one stroke are Gursimar Badwal, Vani Kapoor, Ankita Tiwana and Saaniya Sharma — who are tied for the second spot at level par — after the first round.

Mehar, who won the event here last year as an amateur, started off confidently and was on par score till the sixth hole. She dropped her first shot on the 7th hole but recovered soon by carding her first birdie on the last shot of the front nine. In the back nine, the defending champion did not get the start she would have liked, and dropped a shot on the 11th hole.
However, two birdies on the 12th and 17th holes saw her race ahead of the pack.

Gursimar, who could have easily played an under par round, carded five birdies on the 4th, 11th, 13th, 17th, and 18th holes, a record for the day that she shared with Vani Kapoor. However, an equal number of bogies on the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th and 12th holes undid the good work, and she had to be content with an even par score.

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani, carded five birdies but dropped three shots along with a double bogey to record a level par score. Birdies on the 2nd, 4th, 8th, 10th and 11th holes were cancelled out by bogies on the 3rd, 13th and 16th holes, along with a double bogey on the 6th hole.

Ankita carded one birdie and a bogey to end the opening day on par 72. She carded a birdie on the 3rd hole while dropping a shot on the 18th.

Veteran Smriti Mehra, could not deliver on the expected lines and ended the first round with a score of six over 78.