Saaniya takes lead in Hero golf

Chandigarh's Saaniya Sharma took the lead in the first round of the 12th leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour here Wednesday.

Saaniya finished with the day's best round of two under 70 to have a two stroke lead over Delhi's Vani Kapoor, who is second after 18 holes. The Rs.2.5 lakh tournament is being played at the Golden Green Golf and Resorts here.

Saaniya played a stable round returning with scores of two under 70. She was a little unstable in her front nine with a single birdie and three bogeys but came back strongly in the back nine with four birdies. Her round consisted of five birdies on the third, 11th, 12th, 15th and 17th holes and bogeys on the second, sixth and eighth holes.

Trailing Saaniya by two strokes was Vani, whose front nine was equally unstable with two bogeys, one double bogey and two birdies. She stabilised in the back nine with two more birdies to return with an even par score after the first round.

Vani's round consisted of four birdies on the sixth, ninth, 11th and 16th holes along with two bogeys on the first and seventh. Her round also consisted of a double bogey on the eighth.

Rookie Pune golfer Shweta Galande is third with a score of five over 77. Current Order of Merit leader Neha Tripathi of Kolkata had a bad day at office as she finished tied fourth with Pallavi Jain with identical scores of six over 78.