Golfer Smriti reigns supreme in Pune

Overnight leader Smriti Mehra played a cautious round of 1 over 72 on the final day to win the Rs.5 lakh seventh leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Poona Club Golf Course here on Thursday.

This is Smriti's second win in as many weeks. Trailing by a huge margin of seven strokes were Delhi's Vani Kapoor, Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma and Kolkata's Neha Tripathi who were tied second with identical scores of 222.

Veteran Smriti started impressively with three birdies on the third, fourth and seventh holes along with a lone bogey on the eighth in her front nine. Her scratchy back nine included a double bogey on the 10th, a birdie on the 11th and two consecutive bogeys on the 16th and 17th.

Thanks to the overnight four stoke advantage and an impressive front nine on a difficult day, Smriti steered clear of anxious moments to win her second title of the season with a total score of 215.

Order of Merit leader Vani played a bogey-free front nine with a birdie on the first. However, her ordinary back nine included bogeys on the 13th and 16th along with a double bogey on the 14th. Her lone birdie on the 15th came to her rescue and she finished with a score of 2 over 73.

Saaniya had an indifferent start, dropping shots on the first, third, fourth and fifth followed by a lone birdie on the seventh. Thereafter, she played with much more confidence, carding just one more bogey on the 15th along with a birdie on the 18th to finish with a score of 3 over 74.

Neha played a birdie-less round of 4 over 75, carding bogeys on the third, sixth, 12th and 17th.

Bengaluru's Sharmila Nicollet had a bad day in office, playing a card of 5 over 76. She dropped shots on the first, third, fifth and sixth but made a strong comeback, firing three birdies on the seventh, ninth and 12th.

However, two double bogeys on the final two holes marred her chances of a podium finish. Sharmila finished tied fifth along with Panchkula's Amandeep Drall and England's Kiran Matharu with identical totals of 224 after 54 holes.

Amandeep's final round of 1 over 72 included two birdies on the sixth and 16th, a bogey on the 11th and a double bogey on the seventh. Kiran Matharu's final round of 3 over 74 included two birdies on the third and seventh along with three bogeys on the first, second and 16th and also a double bogey on the 18th.

Local girl Shweta Galande and Delhi's Ankita Tiwana were tied eighth with 225.

The tour now moves to Classic Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, for its eighth leg to be played from March 11 to 13.