Golfer Vani grabs lead on second day

Vani Kapoor fired 4 under 68 in the second round to grab the lead in the Rs.7 lakh second leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the Kalhaar Blues and Greens here on Wednesday.

Trailing by a margin of four strokes in tied second position are Kiran Matharu and Amandeep Drall with a total score of 146.

Order of Merit leader Vani started the day in tied second position after playing a birdie-less round on Tuesday. However, the Delhi girl was in supreme form on Wednesday. She played a bogey-free front nine with two birdies on the second and third holes.

She fired four more birdies in the latter half on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes while dropping just two shots on the 10th and 18th to finish with a total score of 142 after 36 holes. Her tally of six birdies was the maximum by any player in the second round. With a four stroke cushion, Vani will be eyeing her second consecutive title of the season on Thursday.

English golfer Kiran Matharu carded 1 under 71, only the second sub-par score of the round to jump into tied second position. She started impressively, carding two birdies on the first and third. She added another on the 12th but two bogeys on the 10th and 11th meant that she had to settle for tied second.

Panchkula's Amandeep Drall carded an even par 72 to retain her tied second position. Her round included three birdies on the second, fifth and 13th with an equal number of bogeys on the fourth, 10th and 18th to finish with 146.

Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal carded 1 over 73 in the second round to take fourth position with a score of 150. She carded five birdies on the second, sixth, 11th, 13th and 14th while dropping shots on the 10th and 18th along with two double bogeys on the third and 15th.

Overnight leader Smriti Mehra could not reproduce her form of Tuesday and carded 7 over 79. She is tied fifth with Delhi's Ankita Tiwana with 152. Following them are Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma and Delhi's Mehar Atwal who are placed seventh and eighth respectively.