Smriti, Neha lead in Hero golf

Kolkata duo Smriti Mehra and Neha Tripathi played some swashbuckling golf amid windy conditions to be tied first with identical scores of even par 70 after 18 holes at the Clover Greens Golf Course Wednesday, playing host to the 10th leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour.

Closely following the leaders with a deficit of three shots were Ankita Tiwana and amateur Gauri Monga from Delhi.

Veteran Smriti, who came into action after a gap of nearly two months, showed little signs of discomfort finishing with two birdies on the first and third holes followed by an eagle on the seventh along with four bogeys on the fifth, ninth, 10th and 18th.

Smriti would have easily taken the sole lead but her mistake on the 18th cost her a shot leading to a tied first place finish.

Youngster Neha on the other hand came to life with an improved game. She started off with three quick bogies on the second, fifth and sixth along with four birdies on the third, seventh, ninth and 13th. She finished with another bogey on the 14th to lead the field with Smriti.

Gauri and Ankita played well under testing conditions to finish tied second, carding 3 over 73. While Gauri's birdie-less round consisted of three bogies on the sixth, 11th and 14th, Ankita carded four bogies on the fifth, ninth, 10th, 14th with a lone birdie on seventh.

Delhi's Vani Kapoor had an indifferent day. Her front nine was marred with errors as she carded as many as five bogies on the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth holes and just one birdie on the sixth.

Her back nine was much more controlled with a single bogey on the 11th. She finished tied fifth with Pune's Shweta Galande carding identical scores of 5 over 75.

Shweta carded four bogies on the fourth, sixth, 10th and 17th along with a double bogey on the eighth and a birdie on the sixth.

Gursimar Badwal is seventh with 6 over 76 while Saaniya Sharma, Pallavi Jain and Priya Puri are tied eighth at 7 over 77.